History of our time, 1885-1913

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HOME UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
OF MODERN KNOWLEDGE

HISTORY OF OUR TIME

1885-1911

By G. p. GOOCH

London
WILLIAMS & NOR GATE

HENRY HOLT & Co., New York
Canada : WM. BRIGGS, Toronto
India : R. & T. WASHBOURNE, Ltd.

HOME

UNIVERSITY

LIBRARY

OF

MODERN KNOWLEDGE

Editors :
HERBERT FISHER, MJV, FJB.A.

PKOr. GILBERT MURRAY, D.LiTT,

LL.D^ F.B.A.
Prof. J. ARTHUR THOMSON, M.A.
Prof. WILLIAM T. BREWSTER, M.A.

(Columbia University, U.S.A.)

[

NEW YORK
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY

HISTORY OF
OUR TIME

1885-1911

BY

G. P. GOOCH, M.A.

AUTHOR OF

"ENGLISH DEMOCRATIC IDEAS IN THE

SEVENTEENTH CENTURY," " ANNALS OF

POLITICS AND CULTURF," ETC

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LONDON
WILLIAMS AND NORGATE

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CONTENTS

I The British Empire

n The French Republic

III The Latin South

rv Germany and Austria-Hungary

V Eastern Europe

VI The Balance of Power .

VII The Awakening of Asia .

VIII The Partition of Africa

IX The New World

X World Problems

7

35

58

83

109

132

155

180

206

232

HISTORY OF OUR TIME

CHAPTER I

THE BRITISH EMPIRE

In June 1885 Gladstone's second Ministry
was defeated on the Budget proposal to
increase the taxation of liquor. It had
inherited difficulties at home and abroad,
and its career had been stormy and dis-
appointing. There had been an inglorious
war in South Africa, incessant conflict in
Ireland, and dynamite outrages in London.
The revolt of Arabi had been suppressed,
but Khartoum had fallen and Gordon had
perished. Moreover the Ministry had been
weakened by resignations and torn by internal
dissension. Lord Lansdowne and the Duke
of Argyll had withdrawn on the attempt
to settle the Irish land question, Forster
on the release of Parnell from Kilmainham,
Bright on the bombardment of Alexandria.
An unceasing struggle had been carried on
in the Cabinet between the Whigs and the

8 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

Radicals, culminating in the " Unauthorised
Programme " of Mr. Chamberlain.

On Gladstone's resignation Salisbury formed
his first Ministry ; but before the dissolu-
tion took place in November, an important
change in the political situation had occurred.
The Crimes Act was dropped, and Carnarvon,
the new Lord-Lieutenant, informed Parnell
at a secret interview of his inclination towards
Home Rule. For these reasons the Irish
vote was cast for Conservative candidates
throughout Great Britain. The result of the
election was that the Conservatives and
Nationalists combined exactly equalled the
Liberals. Gladstone's election address had
demanded an equitable settlement with
Ireland, and had asked for a majority in-
dependent of Irish votes. On failing to obtain
it he offered to co-operate with Salisbury
in an attempt to solve the problem on the
lines of autonomy. The Conservative leader
refused ; but Herbert Gladstone had already
confided to a newspaper that his father
was prepared to grant some form of Home
Rule. Meanwhile Carnarvon had resigned,
and on the meeting of Parliament the Queen's
Speech foreshadowed the renewal of coercion.
The Liberals and Nationalists combined to
overthrow the Government on the Address,
and Gladstone became Prime Minister for
the third time.

THE BRITISH EMPIRE 9

The adoption of Home Rule by the Liberal
leader opened a new chapter in the history
of the British Empire. Influential Liberals
like Mr. Morley, Mr. Bryce, and Sir Charles
Dilke had already avowed themselves Home
Rulers; and Gladstone's conversion caused
no surprise to his intimate friends and
colleagues. He had lost what little faith in
coercion he had ever possessed. Before
his resignation he had contemplated an
elective Central Council for Ireland on lines
suggested by Mr. Chamberlain. Visiting his
leader at Hawarden in September, Lord
Derby found him " leaning towards Home
Rule." In this state of mind he was pro-
foundly impressed by the return of 86 Irish
Home Rulers at the first election held on
a democratic franchise. The vision of a
reconciled Ireland gradually took possession
of him, and to its realisation he devoted
the evening of his life.

The approaching split in the Liberal
party was foreshadowed when the com-
position of the Ministry was announced.
The names of Hartington, Bright, Selborne,
Derby, Northbrook, Sir Henry James and
other old colleagues were missing, while
Mr. Chamberlain and Sir George Trevelyan,
in accepting office, only pledged themselves
to inquiry. The Bill was framed by the
Prime Minister with the assistance of Mr.

10 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

Morley, the new Chief Secretary, and Lord
Spencer, whose long experience as Lord-
Lieutenant was of the greatest service.
It proposed the creation of two Houses or
Orders, with power over all purely Irish
questions. The Prime Minister added that
a great measure of land purchase would
accompany the scheme. The Bill was re-
ceived with a storm of criticism, the hottest
fire being concentrated on the exclusion
of the Irish members from Westminster.
Mr. Chamberlain and Sir George Trevelyan
had already resigned when the Bill was
defeated on second reading by a majority
of 30 with the aid of 93 dissentient Liberals.
Parliament was dissolved, the Gladstonian
Liberals were defeated, and the Coalition
returned with a majority of 118.

The adoption of Home Rule reduced
the Liberal party to something like political
impotence for twenty years. The change
was too great to be accepted offhand even
at the bidding of Gladstone. But the loss of
one party was the gain of the other. After
a short interval of uncertainty the dissentient
Liberals threw in their lot with the Con-
servatives, and built up a strong Unionist
Coalition. The Whigs had been drifting
away from their chief for some years, and
the adoption of Home Rule merely completed
their conversion. The creation of the

THE BRITISH EMPIRE 11

Unionist party may be said to mark the
birth of the Imperialism which dominated
British poHtics for twenty years. The
foundation of the Imperial Federation League
in 1884, under the auspices of Forster and Lord
Rosebery, showed that the Colonial problem
was occupying the thoughts of prominent
Liberals ; but the Unionists now came
forward not only as the guardians of the
Union but as the special champions of Imperial
expansion and defence. The gulf between
the two historic parties deepened, and the
Liberal party, relieved of the incubus of
its Whig supporters, became more frankly
democratic.

On the fall of the short-lived Gladstone
Ministry, Salisbury offered to serve under
Hartington. The proposal was declined,
though the Whig leader promised independent
support. A purely Conservative Government
was therefore formed with Lord Randolph
Churchill, the champion of Tory democracy
and sometime leader of the Fourth Party,
as Chancellor of the Exchequer and leader
of the House. But at the end of the year
Lord Randolph refused to accept the large
estimates for the army and navy on which
the Cabinet was bent. To his surprise
his resignation was accepted. W. H. Smith
became leader of the House, and Goschen
Chancellor of the Exchequer. The new

12 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

minister had refused to join the Gladstone
Government in 1880 owing to his opposition
to the extension of the franchise, and Bright
had predicted that he would one day enter
a Tory administration. At the same time
an effort was made to unite the Liberal party
at the Round Table Conference between
Mr. Chamberlain and Sir George Trevelyan
on one side, and Harcourt, Herschell and
Mr. Morley on the other. The attempt
failed, though Sir George shortly rejoined
his friends. Its failure marks the definite
incorporation of the main body of dissentient
Liberals in the Unionist party.

The most difficult, as well as the most
urgent, problem confronting the Ministry
was that of Ireland. Salisbury had declared
that the sister isle needed twenty years
of resolute government. The medicine was
unflinchingly administered by the Chief
Secretary, Mr. Balfour, who, in reply to the
" Plan of Campaign," carried a drastic and
permanent Crimes Bill in 1887 by the aid
of the guillotine, now used for the first time
in limiting debate. William O'Brien and
other political offenders were treated like
common criminals, and the bloodshed at
Michelstown excited passionate controversy
throughout Great Britain. But the situation,
measured by police statistics, slowly im-
proved, land purchase was hurried on, and

THE BRITISH EMPIRE 13

in 1891 the Congested Districts Board was
created to assist the poverty-stricken coun-
ties of the West.

The main legislative achievements of the
Salisbury Government were the creation
of elective County and District Councils in
1888, and the grant of Free Education in
1891. Both reforms had been advocated
by Mr. Chamberlain, and their passage was
regarded as consideration for Liberal Unionist
support. Nowhere was the advantage of
the former measure more quickly felt than
in London, where the Council attracted from
the outset able and distinguished men. In
1890 an important Housing Act was passed,
and in 1891 facilities were provided for
obtaining allotments. Finance was skilfully
handled by Goschen. In 1888 the interest
on the greater portion of the National Debt
was reduced from 3 to 2| per cent., a further
reduction to 2 J per cent, to take place in
1903. The conversion effected an immediate
saving of Ij millions a year in interest. In
the second place, the proceeds of certain taxes
were assigned to the local authorities in place
of grants in aid. The resources of the County
Councils were increased in 1890 by the
*' Whisky Money " which Goschen had in-
tended to devote to the extinction of licences.
Abroad the sky was comparatively unclouded,
and Salisbury confirmed his reputation as a

14 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

skilful and peace-loving diplomatist. The
celebration of the Jubilee in 1887 not only-
revealed to the world the affectionate rever-
ence in which Queen Victoria was held, but
also emphasised the moral unity of the
Empire. None the less the Government
deemed it necessary to strengthen the national
defences. The Two Power standard was
formulated, and in 1889 a large increase in
the navy was begun.

During the Parliament of 1886 strokes both
of good and evil fortune befel the Unionist
party. In April 1887 the Times published
a facsimile letter of Parnell, expressing a
partial approval of the Phoenix Park murders.
The Irish leader instantly denied its authen-
ticity. After a year's delay, the Govern-
ment appointed a Commission of three Judges
to investigate the history of the Nationalist
movement, both in its political and its
agrarian aspects. The letter was proved
to have been forged by a needy adventurer
named Pigott, who shot himself on ex
posure. The Judges, whose Report was not
ready till February 1890, found that the
leaders of the Irish party were not collec-
tively engaged in a conspiracy to secure the
independence of Ireland, but that some of
them supported separation and incited to
intimidation though not to serious crime.
Parnell had no sooner vindicated his character

THE BRITISH EMPIRE 15

than the poHtical world was convulsed by
the news that he had for years been living
with Mrs. O'Shea. The majority of the
Irish members at once declared that he must
for a time withdraw from the leadership of
the party, and Gladstone publicly advised in
the same sense. Parnell refused to resign and
fought for his place, turning savagely on his old
friends and allies, and killing himself by over-
work in 1891 at the age of forty-five. The
exposure of Parnell and the internecine conflict
within the Nationalist party destroyed the
chances of a Liberal triumph at the polls.
The formulation of a programme by the
National Liberal Federation at Newcastle
in 1891, containing Home Rule, Disestablish-
ment of the Church in Wales and Scotland,
Local Option, abolition of plural voting,
payment of members, Employers' Liability,
and the establishment of Parish Councils,
provoked the antagonism of powerful interests.
The election of 1892 was a bitter dis-
appointment to Gladstone, who only secured
a majority of 40. The second Home Rule
Bill differed from the first in proposing the
retention of 80 members from Ireland, with
power to vote only on matters in which their
country was concerned. But the " in and
out " proposal, borrowed from Croatia, broke
down in debate, and it was determined to
retain the members for all purposes. The

16 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

Bill passed its third reading by a majority
of 34, but was rejected by the House of
Lords by 419 to 41. The Government then
proceeded to pass a Parish Councils Bill,
which completed the reform of local govern-
ment begun in 1888. An Employers'
Liability Bill was withdrawn, owing to the
authorisation by the Peers of the principle
of contracting out of the measure. The
session of 1893 lasted through the winter,
and early in 1894 Gladstone resigned the
Premiership. His last speech in the House
of Commons, where he had sat for sixty years,
pointed the moral of the situation by de-
claring that the issue of Lords and Commons
had been raised, and must be settled in
favour of the elected Chamber. The duties
of a Prime Minister weighed heavily on a man
of eighty-five, sight and hearing were affected,
and Home Rule was blocked ; but the
proximate cause of his resignation was his
dislike of the large shipbuilding programme
on which a majority of his colleagues insisted.
Lord Rosebery, who had been Foreign
Secretary in the third and fourth Gladstone
Ministries, succeeded to the position to which
Harcourt was widely considered to have a
prior claim, and for which Gladstone believed
Spencer the fittest candidate. Harcourt had
to content himself with the leadership of the
House ; but his disappointment was followed

THE BRITISH EMPIRE 17

by the greatest triumph of his career. The
Budget of 1894 instituted graduated duties
on real and personal property passing at
death. The majority was small and the
problem extraordinarily complicated ; but
the measure was skilfully piloted through
the House without the closure. Though
attacked by the Opposition with extreme
bitterness, the Death Duties were retained
when the Unionists took office in the follow-
ing year. The Budget of 1894 was the last
as well as the greatest success of a divided
and dispirited Government. A measure for
the Disestablishment of the Church in Wales
was introduced but not carried through the
House, a Local Veto Bill had to be with-
drawn, and a scheme to solve the urgent
problem of the Irish evicted tenants was re-
jected by the Lords. The Prime Minister
complained bitterly of responsibility without
power, and in June 1895 the Ministry resigned
on a defeat in a thin House on the adequacy
of the supply of cordite.

At the ensuing election the Unionists
secured a majority of 152, and Salisbury
formed his third Administration, in which
Hartington, who had become Duke of Devon-
shire in 1891, Mr. Chamberlain, Lord Lans-
downe. Sir Henry James, and other Liberal
Unionists held important posts. During the
campaign Mr. Chamberlain had expounded

18 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

a policy of social reform, of which Old Age
Pensions was the most popular item ; but
though one surplus followed another no
attempt was made to redeem the promise.
On the other hand, it was mainly owing to
his efforts that an Employers' Liability Bill,
embodying the principle of contracting out,
became law in 1897, and was extended to
include agricultural labourers in 1900.
Relief was granted in 1896 to the agricultural
interest by the remission of half the local
rates, and in the following year an increased
Treasury grant was made to denominational
schools. In 1899 Borough Councils were
established in London to supersede the
Vestries. In Ireland popularly elected
County Councils took the place of the Grand
Juries in 1898, and in 1899 a Department of
Agriculture and Technical Instruction was
established on lines suggested by Sir Horace
Plunkett, who became its first head. On
the other hand, the Government paid no
attention to the finding of a strong Royal
Commission that Ireland was paying one-
twelfth of the joint expenditure, whereas
her proper contribution would be one-
twentieth.

The main attention of the Government
and the country was devoted rather to
external than to domestic affairs. The arrest-
ing personality of Mr. Chamberlain attracted

' THE BRITISH EMPIRE 19

attention to the work of the Colonial Office,
and advantage was taken of the presence
of the Colonial Premiers at the Diamond
Jubilee in 1897 to hold an informal Con-
ference to discuss methods of drawing the
component parts of the Empire together.
In 1900 the federal constitution drawn up
by the Australian Colonies was accepted by
the Home Government, which, however,
insisted on the retention of the Privy Council
as a Court of Appeal. Friendly relations
with the United States were temporarily
interrupted by a dispute in reference to the
boundary of Venezuela. Great Britain was
condemned to look on while the Sultan
massacred his Armenian subjects by thou-
sands, but assisted in the expulsion of Turkish
troops from Crete. A formidable insurrection
among the tribes on the North-West frontier
of India led to a costly campaign in 1897.
In the scramble for concessions in China
Salisbury proved no match for the rough-
handed diplomatists of Germany and Russia,
and the lease of Wei-hai-Wei in 1898 failed
to avert an abiding diminution of British
prestige in the Far East. In another con-
tinent the Government showed greater
decision. In 1896 the Anglo-Egyptian army
advanced to Dongola, and in 1898 the forces
of the Khalifa were annihilated outside
Omdurman.

20 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

While the Empire was occupied with war
and the rumours of war in every quarter of
the world, dark clouds were gathering in
South Africa. On the first day of January

1896 Dr. Jameson, the Administrator of
Rhodesia, entered the Transvaal with 600
men, but was quickly captured by a superior
force of Boers. The plan, though not the
exact day of the Raid, was known to Rhodes,
and it was widely believed that it was also
known to Mr. Chamberlain. A Committee
of the House of Commons was appointed in

1897 to probe the conspiracy ; but as Rhodes'
solicitor, Mr. Hawksley, refused to produce
the telegrams in his possession and the
Committee neglected to insist on their pro-
duction, as Rutherfoord Harris, the Secretary
of the South Africa Company, was nowhere
to be found, and as no punishment was
inflicted on Rhodes, the report merely
increased the suspicion of the Transvaal
Boers that their independence was in danger.
In the same year Sir Alfred Milner was
appointed High Commissioner, and immedi-
ately began to champion the claims of the
Outlanders with zeal equal to their own.
On October 9, 1899, after protracted negotia-
tions, and when a large force was on the way
to the Cape, the Transvaal issued an ulti-
matum.

The South African War was the first contest

THE BRITISH EMPIRE 21

with white men in which Great Britain had
engaged since the Crimean conflict. It was
quickly apparent that both the Intelhgence
Department and the equipment of the army
were gravely at fault. Moreover, Sir Redvers
Buller, the Commander-in-Chief, failed to
justify his appointment. But when in the
closing days of the year the British forces
were defeated thrice in a single week, Lord
Roberts was sent to take command, with
Lord Kitchener as his chief colleague. The
opening months of 1900 completely changed
the situation. The Boer commandos fell
back, Bloemf ontein and Pretoria were occupied
and the Republics annexed.

The outbreak of hostilities banished every
other subject of political discussion. The
masses once again surrendered themselves
without reserve to the intoxicating emotions
of a great and victorious conflict. Owing to
mob violence public discussion of the policy
of the Government was almost confined to
the walls of Parliament. While, with one
or two notable exceptions. Unionists believed
it to be a just and necessary war. Liberal
opinion was sharply divided. Campbell-
Bannerman, who had succeeded Harcourt
as the leader of the party early in 1899, spoke
for the great majority of his followers when
he declared that it might have been avoided
by a more tactful statesmanship ; but he

22 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

shared the almost universal opinion that the
conflict once begun must be carried to a
successful issue. A smaller section, calling
themselves Liberal Imperialists, pronounced
the war to be inevitable. While the party
was thus paralysed by acute dissensions,
Salisbury suddenly dissolved Parliament in
September 1900. The result of a Khaki
election is never in doubt, and the Unionists
were returned by an undiminished majority.
But the Boers developed an unsuspected
power of resistance, and it was not till April
1902 that peace was concluded by the Treaty
of Vereeniging. In addition to an immense
increase of taxation, the war had added
160 millions to the National Debt.

When the conflict was over public attention
again began to turn to domestic affairs.
Queen Victoria had died early in 1901, and
Salisbury resigned on the ground of failing
health at the conclusion of the war, the
reversion falling to Mr. Balfour. In the
election of 1900 Mr. Chamberlain and other
Unionist leaders had invited Liberal support
on the understanding that domestic con-
troversies would not be dealt with in the
coming Parliament. Despite these promises
a Bill was passed in 1902 which abolished
School Boards and transferred the control
of elementary education to County and Town
Councils. Denominational schools were al-

THE BRITISH EMPIRE 23

lowed support from the rates ; and though
the pubhc authority controlled the secular
education given in them, the head teacher
was compelled to belong to the denomination,
and a permanent majority of denominational
managers was guaranteed. In 1904 a scarcely
less controversial measure gave licence-holders
a statutory right to compensation from a
fund levied on the trade if the licence was
not renewed.

The most important legislative achievement
of the Parliament was the Irish Land Act
of 1903. Dual ownership had broken down
despite the reduction of rents decreed by
the Land Court set up by Gladstone in 1881,
and far-seeing landlords and tenants were
coming to regard purchase as the only
solution of their troubles. At a Conference
held in 1902 under the chairmanship of
Lord Dunraven, who occupied a position
midway between the rival orthodoxies of
Dublin and Belfast, a scheme was framed
which supplied the basis of the Wyndham
Act. To bridge the gulf between the price
the tenant could pay and the price the landlord
could accept, a bonus of 12 per cent, was
promised by the Treasury. The landlord
received cash, while the tenant was to pay
off the purchase money in 68| years by
annual instalments which represented less
than his old rent. Under this Act, the

24 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

finance of which proved unsound and had
to be amended in 1909, Ireland is rapidly-
becoming a country of small free-holders.
Economic prosperity has steadily increased,
and a remarkable intellectual revival, power-
fully fostered by the Gaelic League, is in
progress. The demand of Catholic Ireland
for autonomy remains unaffected by good
no less than by evil fortune.

Among other activities of the Balfour
Ministry was the reorganisation of the army.
The office of Commander-in-Chief was abol-
ished, and control was transferred to an
Army Council presided over by the Secretary
for War. Still more important was the
creation of a Committee of Imperial Defence
under the presidency of the Prime Minister.
Higher pay and greater comfort for the
private soldier augmented the cost of the
Army ; but a still larger increase took place
in the Navy estimates. The appointment
of Sir John Fisher to the post of First Sea
Lord in 1904 was followed by the scrapping
of obsolete ships, the concentration of the
fleet, and a revision of the methods of selecting
cadets. The policy of the Government was
laid down in the Cawdor Memorandum of
1905, which advised the annual construction
of four battleships of the newly invented
Dreadnought type.

The Ministry began to lose its popularity

THE BRITISH EMPIRE 25

soon after the close of the war, and the by-
elections went steadily against it. The
fruitless campaigns against the " Mad
Mullah " in Somaliland aroused increasing
disgust, and the expedition to Lhassa in
1904 failed to secure either political or
territorial advantages. The report of a
Committee on Physical Degeneration aroused
universal attention, and suggested the
necessity of a bolder handling of social
problems. In 1903 the Government was
shaken by an internal convulsion. On his
return from a visit to South Africa Mr.
Chamberlain startled the world by a speech
demanding Colonial Preference as a means
of binding the Empire together. He had
invited the Colonies at the Jubilee of 1897
to form a Zollverein ; but though Canada
granted a preference to British goods, and
her example was subsequently followed by
other Colonies, none of them allowed free
entry. He had next attempted to introduce
Preference by a back door when the Cabinet
proposed to remit the shilling duty on corn
imposed by Sir Michael Hicks-Beach for
revenue purposes in 1901 ; but his successor,
Ritchie, insisted on total abolition. Beaten
in the Cabinet Mr. Chamberlain appealed to
public opinion. Mr. Balfour declared for
retaliation as a means of reducing tariffs,
but refused to accept the taxation of food,

26 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

and declared that no changes would be
made by the existing Parliament. In
September the storm burst. Mr. Chamberlain
resigned in order to be free to conduct his
campaign; and Ritchie,Lord George Hamilton,
and the Duke of Devonshire, because they
were unable to agree with the Prime Minister's
newly announced fiscal views. The ex-
Chancellors, Goschen and Hicks-Beach, also
declared their opposition to the Chamberlain
programme, while Mr. Winston Churchill
and a few other prominent Unionists crossed
the floor of the House.

The Cabinet, reconstructed with lesser
men, held on for two years more, but with
diminishing strength and prestige. In 1905
Mr. Wyndham was forced to resign by the
Irish Unionists, who denounced him for
coquetting with the devolution schemes of
Lord Dunraven and the Under Secretary,
Sir Antony Macdonnell. A measure aimed
at the pauper alien evoked no enthusiasm,
and the Unemployed Workmen Act satisfied
nobody. Indignation was aroused by the
introduction of Chinese coolies into the
Transvaal mines under conditions that
existed nowhere else in the British Empire.
Conscious of the growing unpopularity of his
Government, and weakened by the divisions
of his party, Mr. Balfour resigned office in
November 1905. He had displayed remark-

THE BRITISH EMPIRE 27

able parliamentary skill ; but the greatest
personal success of the Ministry was Lord
Lansdowne, whose treaties with Japan and
France and skilful handling of the Macedonian
problem revealed his rare diplomatic ability.

On the resignation of Mr. Balfour, Campbell-
Bannerman undertook the task of forming
a Ministry. When he accepted the leader-
ship of the Liberal party he was only known
as a capable administrator. The divisions
that had caused Lord Rosebery to resign his
post in 1896 and Harcourt to follow his
example three years later were intensified
on the outbreak of the Boer War ; but he
held tenaciously to his convictions and waited
with patient confidence for the turn of the
tide. The inauguration of the Protectionist
campaign in 1903 disunited the Unionists
and reunited the Liberals. Among the
champions of Free Trade none was more
active than Lord Rosebery ; but, shortly
before the change of ministry, he asserted
that he would never serve under a Home
Rule banner. Despite his withdrawal his
political friends accepted office in the new
Ministry. The Liberal programme was
announced by the Prime Minister at the
Albert Hall, and Parliament was dissolved
in the New Year. Though a Liberal victory
was anticipated, the crushing defeat of the
Unionists was somewhat of a surprise. But

28 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

the country was ripe for a change both of
measures and men. It had had its fill of war
and adventure, and craved more nourishing
fare. The election marks the end of the
period of Unionist predominance and Im-
perialist expansion, the era of Chamberlain
and Kipling. Among the striking features
of the election were the solid opposition of
the North to Protection and the unwavering
loyalty of Birmingham to its greatest citizen.
But its most important incident was the
return of 29 members of the Independent
Labour Party. The Labour Representation
Committee, founded in 1900, had done its
work well. Mr. Keir Hardie had sat alone
in the Parliament of 1892, and he and one or
two more working men were members of the
Parliament of 1900. They now formed a
recognised party, which quickly earned respect
by its ability, its sincerity, and its scrupulous
observance of the forms of the House. While
the working men who sat on the Liberal
benches represented the older and more
individualist Trade Union tradition, the
Independent Labour Party was predomin-
antly Socialist, and spoke also for the New
Unionism, which dates from the Dock strike
of 1889.

One of the first tasks of the new Govern-
ment was to prohibit the further introduc-
tion of Chinese labour into South Africa, and

THE BRITISH EMPIRE 29

to grant self-governing institutions to the
Transvaal and the Orange River Colony.
The Chinese were repatriated without damage
to the mining interest, and British and Dutch
began to co-operate in the development of
their common country. In 1909 the two
new Colonies combined with the Cape and
Natal, and in 1910 General Botha became
head of the first Union Cabinet. Thus
South Africa at last passed out of British
party controversy.

The most important Bill of the opening
session was designed to remove the grievances
arising under the Education Act of 1902 ;
but the Lords insisted on alterations which
the Government refused to accept. Subse-
quent attempts met with no better fortune ;
but larger provision was made for Non-
conformists in denominational Training
Colleges receiving State aid. The first ses-
sion also witnessed the addition of 6 million
workers to those already entitled to com-
pensation for accident, the restoration to
Trade Unions of the powers which they had
possessed before the Taff Vale judgment, the
recognition of the rights of the Tenant
Farmer, and the authorisation of contribu-
tions from the rates to the feeding of neces-
sitous school children. A measure to abolish
plural voting was rejected by the House of
Lords. The session of 1907 was shorter

30 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

and less eventful. A Territorial army was
created in which the old Volunteer associa-
tions were merged, new facilities were granted
for the establishment of Small Holdings, and
medical inspection of school children was
inaugurated. On the debit side Bills to
create Small Holdings in Scotland and to deter-
mine the capital value of land were rejected
by the Lords. A Bill transferring certain
departments of local administration to a
Council sitting in Dublin was condemned
by the Nationalists as inadequate and with-
drawn by the Government. When the session
was over the Prime Minister was struck
down. He resigned early in 1908, and
died soon after. While the Boer War had
shown his courage and tenacity, his leader-
ship of the House revealed his rare parlia-
mentary skill and his unequalled capacity
for inspiring the affectionate confidence of
his followers. Mr. Asquith became Prime
Minister, and his place as Chancellor of
the Exchequer was filled by Mr. Lloyd
George.

The session of 1908 was as crowded and
eventful as that of 1906. Measures establish-
ing Old Age Pensions at the age of seventy
and protecting child life against moral and
physical evils were carried ; but the largest
and boldest project, the Licensing Bill,
was rejected by the Lords. Mr. Asquith

THE BRITISH EMPIRE 31

immediately declared that the Veto was
henceforward the dominant issue in politics,
and the session of 1909 witnessed the out-
break of fierce hostilities between the Houses.
Bills to establish a University for Irish
Catholics and to increase the power of public
authorities over housing and town planning
were passed ; but the Budget, which had to
find 14 millions to defray the rapidly in-
creasing expense of the Navy and Old Age
Pensions, was rejected by the Lords on
November SO. Their action, which was
chiefly due to dislike of the land taxes,
rendered a dissolution inevitable, and the
double issue of the Budget and the Veto
was submitted to the electors. Ireland,
Scotland, Wales, and the North of England
stood firmly by the Government ; but the
Unionists won back the South and returned
to Westminster with a net gain of 100
seats. The two great parties were almost
exactly equal, but the support of the Labour
and Nationalist members furnished a majority
of 122 opposed to the Veto of the Upper
House.

The Lords accepted the Budget of 1909,
which was sent up to them unchanged. The
Government's policy was then presented in
the form of resolutions, the first abolishing
the veto on finance, the second limiting the
veto on other measures to two years, the

82 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

third reducing the Hfe of Parliament from
7 to 5 years. The limitation of the veto had
been urged by Bright in 1884, by Gladstone
in his valedictory speech, and by Lord
Rosebery while Prime Minister. It had been
approved by the Commons on the initiative
of Campbell -Bannerman in 1907, and was
now reaffirmed after prolonged debate.
Meanwhile the House of Lords, on the in-
stigation of Lord Rosebery, passed resolu-
tions providing that the possession of a
peerage should not of itself carry with it a
seat in the Upper House. While the armies
thus stood facing each other in battle array.
King Edward VII suddenly died, and the
leaders of the two great parties entered into
a Conference. Political strife was for the
moment hushed, and the opportunity was
seized to redraft the Coronation Oath. In
November the failure of the Conference was
announced, and Parliament was immediately
dissolved. The Unionist leaders promptly
outlined a plan for reducing the size of the
Upper Chamber, obtaining half its members
by election or nomination, and settling
grave disputes by a Referendum. Thus one
party proposed the alteration of its com-
position, the other the limitation of its
powers. The undertaking of Mr. Balfour
to submit Tariff Reform to a Referendum
before embodying it in law assisted in con-

THE BRITISH EMPIRE 83

centrating attention on the constitutional
question by enabling Unionist Free Traders
to support their old party. The decision
of the country was asked and given on
a single issue, and the Government was
confirmed in power by an undiminished
majority.

While domestic controversy remains acute,
a considerable measure of agreement has
been reached in regard to external questions.
Both parties accept the Japanese Alliance
and the Triple Entente, both support un-
conditional arbitration with the United
States and the maintenance of a supreme
Navy. Few men on either side any longer
wish either to increase or diminish the size
of the Empire. The problem of to-day is
to defend, develop, and consolidate the vast
territories which owe allegiance to the British
crown. Canada, Australia, and South Africa
are now less daughter nations than allies.
The Colonial Conference has become the
Imperial Conference, the Colonies have be-
come Dominions, and their Governments
negotiate commercial treaties with foreign
Powers. Canada and Australia are creating
their own fleets. More frequent and system-
atic consultation between the Governments
is desirable, and an important step was
taken at the Conference of 1911, when
the foreign policy of the Mother Country

34 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

was explained to the Dominion Premiers.
But every project of fiscal, military, and
political unification must be tested by its
bearing on the sovereign principle of local
autonomy.

CHAPTER II

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC

The history of the Third RepubHc is a
record of earnest and successful endeavour
to extricate France from the abyss into
which she was plunged by Napoleon III, and
to make her a powerful, prosperous, and
democratic State. The thread which runs
through and connects the main events of
the last forty years is the establishment of
republican institutions and their defence
against enemies within and without. Though
all Frenchmen are not yet republicans, time
has confirmed the truth of Thiers' famous
words, "It is the Republic which divides
us least." When the Comte de Chambord
refused to accept the tricolour flag, all but
the most extreme Monarchists ceased to
work for his restoration. A republican Con-
stitution was drawn up in 1875, the Clerico-
Monarchist attack of Macmahon and the
Due de Broglie was repulsed, the finances
were placed on a sound basis by Leon Say,
the army was enlarged and reorganised,

B2 36

S6 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

Tunis was added to the Colonial Empire,
secular education was instituted by Jules
Ferry, and Grevy, a staunch Republican,
was elected President in 1879. At Gambetta's
death in 1882, the edifice of which he was the
chief architect gave fair promise of stability.

The Ministry of Ferry, which held office
from 1883 to 1885, witnessed not only the
extension of French Indo- China, but also a
modification of the Constitution. It was
enacted that the republican form of govern-
ment should never be subject to revision,
that members of the families which had
reigned in France should be ineligible for
the Presidency, that no more life senators
should be created, and that single-member
constituencies should be replaced by the
scrutin de liste. The fall of the Ministry
was followed by elections in which nearly
half the votes were given to Monarchists.
The Republicans were divided into the Op-
portunists, who inherited the tradition of
Gambetta, and the Radicals, of whom the
most brilliant gladiator was Clemenceau ;
but in face of the common danger they
combined to elect Gr6vy for a second pre-
sidential term. Their nervousness was
further shown by the expulsion in 1886 of
the leading members of families that had
ruled in France, a measure aimed at the
Comte de Paris, who, since the death of

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC 37

the childless Comte de Chambord in 1883,
had become the candidate of Legitimists
as well as Orleanists.

A foe more formidable to the Republic
than the Comte de Paris was at hand. Early
in 1886 Boulanger, whom Gambetta had
called one of the four best officers in France,
became Minister of War in the Freycinet
Ministry. He possessed unusual energy, and
he ingratiated himself with the soldiers by
increasing their comforts. At a review on
the anniversary of the fall of the Bastille
he was received with acclamation by the
crowd. A Boulangist movement began under
the auspices of Rochefort and DeroulMe,
the programme of which was the suppression
of the parliamentary regime and the dictator-
ship of the General. Early in 1887 his
swaggering Chauvinism on the occasion of
the arrest of Schnaebele increased his popu-
larity with the mob. The fall of the Ministry
of which he was a member and his dispatch
to the command of an army corps in the
provinces in no way diminished his influence.
The Clerical, Monarchist, and Bonapartist
parties saw a chance of overturning the
Republic, and the Comte de Paris, in spite
of Boulanger's scandalous conduct to his
house, supplied money for the campaign.

The danger was increased by a presidential
crisis. Shortly after the re-election of Grevy

88 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

it was discovered that his son-in-law, Wilson,
was selling honours from the Elysee. The
President was forced to resign, and though
Carnot, the grandson of the Organiser of
Victory, succeeded him, the prestige of the
Republic received a damaging blow. At
this moment of republican disillusion Bou-
langer came to Paris without permission. He
was deprived of his command, but was
immediately elected to Parliament by an
enormous majority. Though the General
made no mark in the Chamber, he was returned
by several departments. In January 1889
his election for the department of the Seine
by an overwhelming majority showed
that Paris was behind him ; and had he
struck on the night of his triumph, he would
have slain the Republic. He let slip the
opportunity of his life, and a few weeks later,
on learning that he was to be arrested, fled
from the country. In his absence he was tried
for treason, and sentenced to perpetual im-
prisonment. A few months later the suicide
of the sham Napoleon in Brussels brought to
a fitting close one of the most discreditable
chapters in the history of modern France.

The Exhibition of 1889 helped to restore
confidence in the Republic. Single-member
constituencies were restored and candidatures
for more than one seat forbidden, and at the
elections of 1889 the Royahst vote sank from

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC 39

45 to 21 per cent, of the total poll. A short
period of calm followed the violent agitations
of recent years. No legislation of importance
was passed except that which, on the initiative
of Meline, set up a general tariff in 1892.
But the tranquillity was violently disturbed
by the Panama scandals. The great engineer
De Lesseps, after constructing the Suez Canal,
determined to pierce the Isthmus of Panama,
a project as old as Philip II. The thrifty
peasantry readily entrusted him with their
savings, and a company was formed in 1881.
The engineering difficulties proved immensely
greater than had been anticipated, and
tropical diseases played havoc with the
workmen. In 1888 the Company was in need
of further capital, and, failing to obtain
it, suspended the payment of interest. The
shareholders were willing to forfeit their interest
till the opening of the canal, and De Lesseps
was offered the chairmanship of a new
Company, with a million to complete the work.
But he had lost his buoyant self-confidence,
and refused to undertake further responsi-
bilities. Moreover, the United States, which
had kept up a running fire of criticism from
the start, now expressed open hostility.
Three foreign Commissioners were sent to
Panama, and their report destroyed the last
illusions of the hapless investors. Though
50 millions had already been raised, 30 millions

40 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

more would be required, and when the canal
was open for traffic the prospect of revenue
was small. These revelations were followed
by others which intensified the poignancy
of the disaster. It was discovered that barely
two-thirds of the vast sum already raised
had been spent on the isthmus. A Parlia-
mentary Committee, appointed in the autumn
of 1892, reported that past and present
members of both Chambers had received
money. Early in 1893 the Directors of the
Company were brought to trial. De Lesseps
himself was sentenced to imprisonment ; but
as he was nearly ninety, and almost imbecile,
he was allowed to end his days in peace. The
Boulanger crisis revealed the strength of the
enemies of the Republic. Panama disclosed
the moral weakness of some of its own
champions. It seemed, indeed, to be pursued
by a remorseless fate. In 1894 the blameless
Carnot was assassinated by an anarchist, and
his successor, Casimir - Perier, after seven
months of office, resigned his exalted post.
He had been violently attacked by the
Socialists and the Extreme Left, and his
ministers withheld from him decisions in
reference to foreign policy and national
defence.

While the Republic was thus receiving
blow upon blow, it seemed as if it were
about to make peace with one of its most

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC 41

formidable adversaries. Though the clergy-
had hated the Italian policy of Louis Napoleon,
they at any rate preferred him to his suc-
cessors. When Macmahon dismissed Jules
Simon and appointed the Due de Broglie,
the Church warmly supported the attempt
of the Royalists to capture the executive.
It was after the historic election of 1877
that Gambetta uttered his famous declaration
" Le Clericalisme, voila Fennemi.'* Open
war was declared when Ferry banished the
Jesuits and attempted to forbid members
of unauthorised Orders to teach. Under
the circumstances it was not surprising that
the Church and the Orders should have
supported Boulanger in his endeavour to
overturn the Republic.

The Boulangist crisis suggested to many
Republicans the desirability of attempting
to disarm the hostility of the Church ; and a
powerful influence in the direction of peace
was exerted from the Vatican. In 1890
the saintly Cardinal Lavigerie hoisted the
signal of reconciliation by proposing the
toast of the Republic in the presence of
French officers on a visit to Algiers, and in
1892 the Pope took the decisive step of
issuing an Encyclical urging French Catholics
to rally to the Republic. The majority of
Royalists, led by the Comte de Mun, followed
his injunctions and formed the party of the

42 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

" Rallies." The Republicans showed their
appreciation by dropping the demand for
the separation of Church and State in the
elections of 1893 ; but the halcyon days
were few and were followed by far fiercer
combats.

A new element of discord had been intro-
duced by a campaign against the Jews,
inaugurated by Drumont. His contention
that France was being exploited by alien
financiers received some shadow of con-
firmation from the Panama scandals. The
support of Catholics was secured by attributing
the anti-clerical policy of the Republic to
the influence of the Jews, while the army
was adjured to purge itself of the Semitic
virus which was alleged to be working on
behalf of the national enemy. In October
1894, La Libre Parole announced a concrete
case of treason. Captain Dreyfus, a Jewish
officer of artillery, was arrested on the charge
of betraying military secrets to Germany.
He was tried by court-martial, sentenced to
detention for life, publicly degraded, and
transported to an island oft French Guiana.
Though the arrest attracted little notice at
the time, many of his co-religionists sus-
pected that his condemnation was unjust.
In 1896 Colonel Picquart, who had become
head of the Intelligence Department of the
War Office, informed the Minister for War

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC 43

that he beheved the incriminating letter to
have been written by Major Esterhazy.
The War Office replied by sending Picquart
on foreign service and replacing him by
Colonel Henry. The next step was taken
in 1897, when Scheurer-Kestner, a Protestant
Senator, announced his conviction that the
prisoner of the Devil's Isle w^as innocent ;
but the Meline Ministry replied that it was
impossible to go behind the judgment of
the Court.

France was now divided into hostile camps.
On the side of Dreyfus were such doughty
warriors as Clemenceau, Jaures, Joseph
Reinach, Zola, and Anatole France; against
him were the mob, the army, and the Church,
■with a few Catholic and Royalist inteUectuels,
such as Bruneti^re and Jules Lemaitre,
Coppee and Bourget. In the latter camp
was also found President Faure, who had
succeeded Casimir-Perier and whose loyalty
to the Parliamentary Republic was not above
suspicion. Esterhazy was acquitted of writ-
ing the letter by a court-martial, Zola was
condemned for an attack on the military
authorities, and Picquart was imprisoned
without trial for his championship of Dreyfus.
The elections of 1898 led to the resignation
of the Meline Cabinet and the forma-
tion of a Radical Ministry under Brisson ;
but the majority was still anti-Dreyfusard.

44 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

When the Chamber met, the War Minister,
Cavaignac, communicated to it new proofs
of the prisoner's guilt ; but a month later
Colonel Henry confessed that the documents
had been forged by himself, and committed
suicide in prison. The forgeries of Henry
left the Government no choice but to refer
the case to the Cour de Cassation. The trial
was delayed by the hostility of Brisson's
successor, Dupuy, but a formidable obstacle
was removed by the sudden death of Faure
in the early days of 1899.

The defenders of Dreyfus were animated
by an unselfish determination to secure the
release of an innocent man ; but a simple
miscarriage of military justice would not have
convulsed France. As the drama developed
Dreyfus became the symbol of principles
which were supported or attacked without
much reference to his guilt or innocence.
His chief defenders were almost without
exception Protestants, Jews, freethinkers,
Radicals, and Socialists. The core of the anti-
Dreyfusard coalition was anti-Republican,
and the fight for Dreyfus developed into a
fight for the Republic. On the day of Faure's
funeral DeroulMe, the poet of La Revanche
and the champion of a plebiscitary executive,
attempted to lead General Roget, a prominent
anti-Dreyfusard who was on duty with his
troops, against the £lys^e. The attempt

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC 45

failed and Deroulede was banished ; but a
few weeks later an organised assault on the
new President, Loubet, on the racecourse
at Auteuil, showed that the danger was not
yet over.

The existence of the Republic has been
thrice seriously threatened. The attack of
1877 had been mainly frustrated by Gam-
betta, that of Boulanger by Constans.
That it emerged unscathed from the still
more formidable onslaught of the anti-
Dreyfusards was mainly due to Waldeck-
Rousseau, who took office when the failure to
screen the head of the State from insult led
to the fall of the Dupuy Ministry in June
1899. Under the joint influence of the new
President and the new Premier the forces
of reason began to reassert themselves.
Waldeck-Rousseau had already made his
name at the bar when he entered Parliament
in 1879. He quickly attracted the attention
of Gambetta, and became Minister of the
Interior in the Grand Ministere and
again in the long Ministry of Jules Ferry.
When the latter fell in 1885 his friend and
follower returned to the bar, where his
practice was so lucrative that it was generally
believed that he would never again embark
on the stormy sea of politics. Yet when the
existence of the Republic seemed at stake
in 1899 he responded to the call. His cool

46 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

brain and reserved manners, his prestige
and disinterestedness, exerted a tranquil -
lising effect ; and his choice of colleagues
gave ocular demonstration of his resolve to
unite all sincere Republicans in defence of
the State. Though declaring himself " a
convinced individualist," he appointed the
socialist Millerand Minister of Public Works.
To reassure the army he persuaded General
Galliffet, famous as a beau sdbreur and as
the executioner of the Communards, to
accept the War Office.

The first task of the new Ministry was to
liquidate the case around which such furious
passions had raged. In accordance with the
decision of the Cour de Cassation, Dreyfus
was brought home and tried before a court-
martial at Rennes. He was found guilty
by 5 votes to 2, and sentenced to ten years'
detention ; but the verdict carried no weight,
and the sorely tried Jew was immediately
pardoned by the President of the Republic.
The whole case was subsequently investi-
gated by the Cour de Cassation, and Dreyfus
was reinstated in the army with promotion
to the rank of Major. The termination of
"the affair" was, however, only the be-
ginning of the task of reconstruction to
which the Ministry was pledged. The great
officers, " Nationalist " almost to a man,
had usurped a position which no State could

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC 47

tolerate, and one of the first steps was to
assert the absolute supremacy of the Govern-
ment over the army. Waldeck-Rousseau
assumed office not only to rescue the Republic
from its enemies, but to take precautions
that they should never be in a position
to renew the attack. The rapprochement
between the Church and the Republic was
rudely disturbed when La Croix, the organ
of the Assumptionists, and other clerical
papers flung themselves with fiendish passion
into the campaign against Dreyfus and violently
traduced the supporters of the Republic. The
attack was repulsed, and the Republicans pro-
ceeded to retaliate.

In 1900 the Premier announced the intro-
duction of legislation in reference to Associa-
tions. The authorisation of Government was
required for any association, political, social,
or religious, consisting of more than twenty
persons ; and such authorisation the greater
religious Orders had never received. Despite
their precarious legal position their membership
had grown sixfold since their nominal sup-
pression by Ferry, while their property was
estimated at forty millions. Such rapid progress
in numbers and wealth was watched with a
not too friendly eye by their historic rivals,
the parochial clergy, who were assured by
the Premier that they would not be affected
by the coming legislation. The Bill was

48 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

introduced in 1901 and passed with little
opposition. The right to associate for legal
purposes was freed from restrictions, but
religious congregations could only be formed
by a special statute, and the rules of each
Order were to be submitted for approval.
No member of an unauthorised Order could
teach in any school. The Premier denied
that the Bill was an attack on religion.
There was no desire, he declared, for a whole-
sale suppression. Each case would be de-
cided on its merits. Several Orders, the
Assumptionists among them, failed to regu-
larise their position, and were at once
proscribed.

In 1902, after an election which confirmed
his power, Waldeck-Rousseau, whose health
had rapidly deteriorated, resigned office.
Two years later he died at the age of fifty-
six. His three years' rule had re-established
the prestige of France, and his place in the
hierarchy of the statesmen of the Third Re-
public is only a little below that of Gambetta
and Ferry. His successor. Combes, a zealous
anti-clerical, who had been educated as a
seminarist, continued the campaign against
the Associations with a harshness which
provoked public condemnation of the author
of the law. In the next place, he closed schools
recently opened in private buildings on the
ground that they were conducted by members

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC 49

of religious Associations, and followed by
the suppression of those conducted by Orders
which had not applied for authorisation.
In 1904 a further law forbade members even
of authorised Orders to teach. Though the
harrying of the Associations involved exile
and poverty to individuals, the policy of
the Government was supported or regarded
with indifference by the mass of the nation.
No sooner were the Associations dissolved
than an even graver step became imminent.
Combes had declared that his shafts would
be aimed at the monks, not at the priests ;
but the distinction could not long be main-
tained. Though the separation of Church and
State had been advocated in the earlier
years of the Republic, little was heard of
it after the papal utterance of 1892, and it
was disavowed by Waldeck-Rousseau. None
the less an annual motion was brought for-
ward by the Extreme Left, and after the
intervention of the Church in the Dreyfus
crisis the demand for separation became
louder. With the accession of Pius X in
the summer of 1903, the conciliatory policy
of Leo and Rampolla was discontinued.
The Premier challenged the wording of the
papal bulls for the institution of bishops,
contending that the Papacy had no choice
but to institute the candidate nominated
by the Government. A deadlock ensued, and

50 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

no further bishops were appointed under
the Concordat, which Combes now threatened
to abrogate. The Pope publicly denounced
the tendencies of the French Government,
and when President Loubet paid a return visit
to Victor Emanuel in Rome in April 1904
he loudly protested. To this tactless step
the Ministry replied by withdrawing the
French ambassador to the Vatican. Shortly
after the Pope issued orders to two bishops
without communication with the Govern-
ment. Combes retorted by withdrawing the
French charge d'affaires and advising the
recall of the papal nuncio from Paris.

The inevitable sequel of the embittered
conflict was the abrogation of the Concordat.
In pursuance of his task of pacification
Napoleon had restored the Church in 1801.
Following the Galilean tradition the Con-
cordat reserved large powers to the executive ;
and Organic Articles were drawn up which,
though not accepted by the Pope, were
applied by successive Governments. The
arrangement lasted for a century, and might
have continued but for the almost simultane-
ous accession to power of two ^ such enemies
of compromise as Pius X and Eimile Combes.
In the autumn of 1904 a Committee of the
Chamber was appointed to inquire into the
problem of separation. The report of its
chairman, Briand, a Socialist barrister,

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC 51

formed the basis of the proposals presented
to Parhament early in 1905 and carried into
law by the end of the year. The Combes
Ministry fell before the discussion began ;
but its policy survived it. The Separation
Law declared that the Republic no longer
recognised nor supported any religious
organisation, and that the property of such
bodies, of which an inventory was to be
made by the State, should be transferred
to Associations of Public Worship. Salaries
were continued for life in the case of the
older clergy, and in other cases according
to the length of service. Precisely the same
arrangements applied to Protestant and
Jewish ministers, who had likewise received
salaries from the State, and who, though
loyal to the Republic, had to suffer with the
rest. The taking of the inventories of the
Churches led to frequent conflicts, in which
the troops had on several occasions to inter-
vene.

The kernel of the scheme was the Associa-
tion Cultuelle, which the Protestants and
Jews adopted, and which with few exceptions
the French bishops approved ; but the
Pope, after long consideration, forbade their
formation. The clergy had no choice but
to submit, and valuable resources passed out
of their control. Sincere sympathy for the
plight of the Church was felt by moderate

52 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

Republicans, and Briand, who became
Minister of Education and Public Worship
in the Clemenceau Cabinet in 1906, adminis-
tered the law with marked forbearance.
Thus the Republic disarmed one of its most
dangerous foes ; but the power of the Church
for evil or for good has been diminished as
much by the growing indifference of the
nation as by drastic legislation. In most
districts the men have long held ostentatiously
aloof from its ministrations, and even in
Brittany, that relic of a vanishing world, its
influence is waning. Protestantism holds
its own but makes no conquests ; and as its
adherents number little over half a million,
it plays but a small part in the religious
life of the nation. In no country has reli-
gion so entirely ceased to receive official
recognition.

Since the termination of the prolonged
struggle with the Church the attention of
French statesmen has been mainly directed
to labour problems. The Commune brought
suspicion on every kind of Socialism, and it
was not till the banished leaders returned
after the amnesty of 1879 that it began to
raise its head. For a time its leader was
Jules Guesde, an orthodox Marxist ; but
before long Benoit Malon, Brousse, and
Allemane declared that more was to be
hoped for from piecemeal reform than from

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC 53

a frontal attack on society. They stood for
what was possible, and the " Possibilists "
broke off from the intransigeants. Trade
Unions were legalised in 1884, and a rap-
prochement between Radicals and moderate
Collectivists was vigorously urged by Jaures
and Millerand, two bourgeois converts to
Socialism. In the election of 1893 fifty
Socialists were returned, and the Socialist
vote again increased at the election of 1898.
The entry of Millerand into a " bourgeois "
Cabinet in 1899 incensed the party of Guesde,
and the new Minister was denounced as a
renegade. Undeterred by these attacks, the
main body of Socialist deputies, brilliantly
marshalled by Jaures, formed an essential
part of the bloc to which France owed her
restoration to health and strength. The
alliance became more intiniate under Combes,
and when Clemenceau took office in 1906 he
appointed a Socialist, Viviani, to the newly
created Ministry of Labour. But the relations
between the Radicals and Socialists now began
to show signs of strain. The attack on the
Church which had brought them together
was over, and the leader of the Left dis-
appointed the hopes aroused by his accession
to office. Social legislation was neglected,
strikes were quelled with extreme severity,
and the Prime Minister lost no opportunity
of emphasising his contempt for SociaHsm.

54 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

The main reason, however, for the dis-
integration of the bloc was less the personahty
of Clemenceau than the emergence of
revolutionary types of thought in labour
circles. On the one hand, a section of
Socialist opinion extended its support to the
extreme pacifism of Herve, who advised a
military strike in case of war. On the other,
the General Confederation of Labour, founded
in 1896, developed into a body frankly
contemptuous of parliamentary and con-
stitutional action. A strike in which the
capital was deprived of electric light was
organised by the Confederation. The growing
power and audacity of " Syndicalism "
alarmed the middle classes, and when the
Prime Minister hit back he was warmly
supported by the bulk of public opinion.
Though the constitutional Socialists as a
body never identified themselves with these
extreme schools of thought, they condemned
the sentences passed upon their spokesmen.
When the championship of the bourgeoisie
became one of the main tasks of the Ministry,
both sides realised that the bloc was at an end.

By an irony of fate the relations of the
parties became still more hostile when the
first Socialist Premier succeeded Clemenceau
in 1909. In his hot youth Briand had advo-
cated the general strike ; but he had long
been a convinced " Possibilist.'- The new

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC 55

Minister quickly announced his desire for a
policy of " appeasement," and hinted that
the dangers which had rendered the bloc
necessary had passed away. His utterances
aroused the lively suspicion of the Extreme
Left ; and open war was declared in 1910
w^hen a serious strike, accompanied by
violence, broke out on the railways. The
Prime Minister affected to treat it as an out-
burst of anarchy, and quelled it by calling
out the strikers in their capacity of reservists.
His colleagues accepted responsibility for the
step, but some of them, including Millerand
and Viviani, were unable to agree to the
legal prohibition of railway strikes which the
Premier demanded. Their resignations mark
the end of the period of Socialist influence in
ministerial policy which began in 1 899. While
supporting such measures as Old Age Pensions,
a progressive income tax, and the State pur-
chase of railways, and while ready to rally
to the defence of secular education and re-
publican institutions, their attitude in Parlia-
ment has changed from cordial co-operation
to that of watchful neutrality. They hailed
the fall of Briand in the spring of 1911 with
delight, and welcomed the formation of the
Monis Ministry as checking the recent trend
towards the Right.

The Republic is now so strong that it can
at need dispense with Socialist support. The

56 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

rapid change of ministries is not, as onlookers
once believed, a sign of political instability,
but an indication that the real centre of power
is in the Chamber. The Royalist vote has
steadily declined since 1885, and even in
Brittany the existing regime is now accepted
by a large majority of the electors. The
peace and prosperity which it has brought
form a powerful argument against attempted
change. The Duke of Orleans, son of the
Comte de Paris and great-grandson of Louis
Philippe, has neither achievements nor per-
sonality to reinforce his claim. The Royalist
€ause has received a slight accession of
strength by the conversion of disillusioned
intellectuels like Paul Bourget, who seek in
the restoration of throne and altar a bulwark
against the advancing flood of social and
intellectual anarchy. On the other hand, it
has been gravely prejudiced by the un-
authorised antics of the Camelots du Roi,
who advertise their contempt for the Republic
by personal outrages on its high officials.

The prospects of Bonapartism are no
brighter. The disasters which Louis Napoleon
brought on his country were too fresh to
allow his party to raise its head in the years
when the Republic was a tender infant. The
death of the Prince Imperial in the Zulu
campaign in 1879 made Prince Napoleon,
the gifted son of King Jerome, head of the

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC 57

family ; but he was no favourite with his
party, and even before his death in 1891 his
eldest son, Prince Victor, was recognised as
the head of the Bonapartists, Though there
has been an extraordinary revival of the cult
of the great Emperor during the last twenty
years in consequence of the works of Masson,
Vandal, Houssaye, and other historians, a
political party can hardly be said to exist.
The sole chance of a third Empire lies in a
war or in the adoption of the " Nationalist "
demand for a plebiscitary executive. If the
Republic remains true to itself it has nothing
to fear from its enemies.

CHAPTER III

THE LATIN SOUTH

The group of statesmen who had co-operated
with Cavour in the unification of Italy
governed the new kingdom till the fall of
Minghetti in 1876. High hopes were built
on the triumph of the Left ; but the new
pilots quickly showed themselves to be no more
skilful than the old. Their chief, Depretis, who
held office almost continuously for a decade,
though personally incorrupt, well knew how
to play on human weakness, and by his
practice of drawing ministers from every
party reduced politics to a game of skill.
Elementary education was made compulsory,
though without money to pay for it or machin-
ery to enforce attendance, and the franchise
was extended ; but the later years of his
rule were marked by growing inertia and
rising discontent. The country became weary
of a minister who lacked conviction and
58

ITALY 59

initiative, and when he died in 1887 the
accession of Crispi to office was hailed with
dehght.

The new Premier was 68 years old. He
had begun life as a Republican, and had
taken part in the revolt of his native Sicily in
1848. He was one of The Thousand who
landed at Marsala, and it was to him more
than to any man except Garibaldi that the
liberation of the island was due. After
the dramatic events of 1860 he accepted the
Monarchy and entered Parliament. When
the Right fell in 1876 he became successively
President of the Chamber and Minister of the
Interior. The Court accepted him with a
bad grace. Cavour and Victor Emanuel
had detested him, and Humbert liked him
little better. An unsuitable marriage cut
him off from society, and his manner was
brusque and arrogant. His accession to
office revealed in their full extent both his
ability and his defects. After the flabby
administration of Depretis the country was
glad to feel a firm hand on the reins. On
the other hand, he proved to be both rash
and variable. His temper became intolerable
under pressure of work, for he was Foreign
Secretary as well as Minister of the Interior
and Premier. He began to be regarded as
a danger to the country, and his lack of tact
and contempt for the arts of parliamentary

60 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

management led to his overthrow in 1891.
Yet within three years an insurrection among
the Sicihan peasantry and the critical state
of the finances led to an irresistible demand
for his recall.

Crispi's second Administration forms a
landmark in the history of modern Italy.
Soon after the savage repression of the dis-
orders in Sicily, it was announced that the
Premier and his colleagues had received
money from the Bank of Rome for the cor-
ruption of the press and the electorate.
Crispi at once dissolved Parliament and secured
a sweeping majority by striking thousands of
his opponents off the electoral list and aiding
the Government candidates by a display of
force. Backed by a large and docile majority,
and at last enjoying the complete confidence
of the King, Crispi's position appeared
thoroughly secure. Two years later the
most powerful Minister since Cavour had
wrecked his ministry and terminated his
public career.

During the decade that succeeded unifica-
tion Italy had wisely devoted her energies
to domestic problems ; but on entering the
Triple Alliance in 1882 it began to be felt
that she ought to become a Great Power.
Plans for a commercial settlement in Abyssinia
had been discussed in the lifetime of Cavour ;
but it was not till 1882 that Depretis bought

ITALY 61

a small strip of coast on the Red Sea from
a Genoese Company. Three years later
troops were sent to Massowa, a port in Abys-
sinia, though it was declared to be merely
a commercial settlement. In 1887 an advance
into the interior was commenced on the
pretext of finding healthy quarters for the
troops among the hills. The Abyssinians,
who had been ready to concede trading
facilities, began to suspect designs on their
independence. The Negus John demanded
a withdrawal to the coast. The demand
was refused, and a column of 500 men was
cut to pieces at Dogali. At this moment
the scene changed. John was killed in
battle by the Dervishes, and his successor,
Menelik, mounted the throne by Italian aid.
The new ruler signed a treaty which the
Italian Government understood to recognise
a Protectorate over the whole of Abyssinia.
In 1894 Italian troops repulsed a Dervish
attack and occupied Kassala. Menelik was
now firmly on the throne, and, perhaps
encouraged by France and Russia, repudi-
ated all idea of a Protectorate. Crispi
replied by ordering the occupation of Adowa,
the capital of one of the feudatory States,
and demanding a categorical recognition of
the Italian claim. Several small victories
were won, but, while reinforcements were on
the way, General Baratieri with 14,000 men

62 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

attacked an army of 80,000 and lost a third
of his troops. The King and his Minister
desired to continue the campaign ; but the
nation passed from exultation to depression.
Enough blood and money had been spent.
The claim to a Protectorate was abandoned,
Crispi resigned, and the ill-starred experi-
ment in aggressive Imperialism was at an
end.

The disaster of Adowa was a blessing in
disguise. Italy needed all her energies to
set her own house in order. The high
prices and crushing taxation intensified the
discouragement, and the people began to
lose faith in their rulers. The crisis came
in 1898, when riots broke out in the great
cities. For three days Milan was the scene
of civil war, and the triumph of the troops
was followed by savage repression. A panic
seized on the propertied classes. General
Pelloux introduced drastic bills relating to
public meetings and associations, and when
they were obstructed by the Left he issued
them as ordinances by royal decree. The
Supreme Court in Rome courageously de-
clared them invalid, and, after a further
attempt to pass the bills, the Premier dis-
solved Parliament in 1900. In the Latin
South the Government always obtains a
majority ; but industrial Italy was hostile,
the Left returned with increased strength,

ITALY 63

and Pelloux resigned. A few days later
King Humbert was assassinated.

The death of the King and the resignation
of Pelloux brought to a close the mournful
period which began with the Abyssinian
disasters. Humbert possessed the courage
of his race; but he lacked political insight,
and during his later years he was captured
by reactionary militarism. The new King,
Victor Emanuel, belonged to a type totally
different from his father and grandfather.
A man of lofty character and scholarly
interests, he had studied the social problems
of which Humbert knew nothing and was
wholly free from the craving for adventure
which had led Italy to overtax her strength.
He realised that the discontent which had
led to the crisis of 1898 could only be cured
by efficient government and fearless reform,
and at once called the veteran Radical leader,
Zanardelli, to office. Since his accession the
fortunes of Italy have steadily improved.
The termination of the tariff war with France
in 1898 assisted the revival of trade, the
production of silk and other staple industries
rapidly increased, the financial credit of
the country was restored, one surplus followed
another, and Luzzatti's conversion of the
National Debt in 1906 lightened the burden
of taxation. The octroi on corn and flour
was abolished, and the grants to education

64 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

increased. On the other hand, successive
Ministries have been confronted by incessant
labour troubles. One of the features of the
milder regime which began with the new
reign was the toleration of strikes if legally
conducted. Advantage was taken of the
permission, and strikes abounded. In 1904
a general strike, accompanied by the destruc-
tion of property and the cutting of railways,
caused a revulsion of feeling. Parliament
was dissolved by Giolitti, who had succeeded
Zanardelli, and the parties of the Extreme
Left were routed.

In addition to attempting to smooth the
relations of employers and employed, Italian
statesmen have been confronted with an in-
dustrial problem which directly concerned the
State. The railways have always possessed
a bad reputation, and when the concessions
of the private companies expired in 1905
an irresistible demand arose for their pur-
chase. The transfer was effected, and large
sums were spent on improving the plant
and increasing the pay of the employes ;
but the defects of the old management were
so inveterate that for a time the admini-
strative chaos was increased rather than
diminished. That Italy is poorly supplied
with brains capable of grappling with com-
plex administrative tasks was again re-
vealed by the unskilful handling of the

ITALY 65

problem of relief after the earthquake of
1908.

The new reign has witnessed an advance
in another direction. Though the claim to
Temporal Power has never been surrendered,
the old bitterness between the Papacy and
the House of Savoy is gradually disappear-
ing. At the outset of his pontificate Pius X
allowed the Archbishop of Bologna to wel-
come the King on his visit to the city, and to
sit on his right hand at the reception banquet.
Italy has been substituted for France as
the Protector of the Eastern Catholics.
Though in theory abstaining from active
politics, faithful sons of the Church have
been permitted, and even encouraged, to
take part in warring against Socialists and
anti-clericals. It may still be long before
a bridge is built from the Vatican to the
Quirinal ; but the movement is in the direc-
tion of compromise.

Though the balance-sheet of the last decade
compares favourably with the era of Crispi
and Humbert, there is still no ground for
exaggerated optimism. The South remains
a running sore — poverty-stricken, ignorant,
superstitious, corrupt. That the Camorra
is not yet extinct has been revealed by the
prolonged trial at Viterbo. The earthquake
which annihilated Messina and the villages of
the Calabrian coast displayed the helplessness
c

66 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

as well as the misery of the population. The
reforms brought forward by the Conservative
leader, Sonnino, during his short Ministry of
1906, were applied in an emasculated form
when Giolitti returned to power. The land-
tax was reduced, tariff exemptions were
granted to infant industries, communications
were improved, and new schools were opened.
But the problem is so vast that improvement
is at present scarcely perceptible. Another
burden inherited by IJnited Italy is the
enormous National Debt, the interest on
which amounts to a third of the annual
expenditure of the State. In the next place,
public life is still corroded with corruption.
How little confidence is felt in the integrity
of Parliament was revealed in the excite-
ment that attended the revision of the ship-
ping subsidies. Finally, Italian politics are
sterilised by the obliteration of party dis-
tinctions and the tendency to fissure within
the ranks of the separate groups. It is above
all his skill in the parliamentary game that
has made the Liberal leader, Giolitti, the
principal figure in Italian politics since the fall
of Crispi, and perpetually brings him back to
power when less practised performers have
been hissed off the stage.

SPAIN 67

II

The recent history of Spain is the record
of a slow recovery from the condition of
anarchy which prevailed during the middle
decades of the century. The six years of
confusion which followed the expulsion of
Isabella in 1868 convinced the majority of
Spaniards that the restoration of the Bourbon
monarchy was inevitable. Nobody suggested
the recall of the Queen ; but at the end of
1874 her son, Alfonso, a lad of seventeen, on
the advice of Canovas, the leader of his friends
in Spain, issued a proclamation promising
amnesty and constitutional government. The
response was immediate. The army pro-
claimed him, the Monarchists welcomed him,
the Republicans accepted him. The young
King was popular and sympathetic, though
the moral atmosphere of his Court was no
purer than that of his mother. The Con-
servatives under Canovas and the Liberals
under Sagasta alternately held office, according
to the system of pre-arranged rotation which
flourishes in the Peninsula. The level of
public life was low, but the country was tired
of pronunciamentos and was grateful for a
period of peaceful recuperation. In 1883
the Pope declared his will that Don Carlos
should receive no support from the clergy.

Alfonso XII died of consumption in
C2

68 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

November 1885, leaving two daughters ; but
it was known that Queen Christina, an
Austrian princess, was expecting the birth of
another child. Six months later a son was
born. The birth of Alfonso XIII and the
devotion of his mother appealed to the
chivalry of the nation. When the young
King recovered from a terrible illness in
1890 Castelar, the veteran Republican, con-
gratulated his mother and declared that he
regarded Alfonso as doubly King, by law and
by miracle.

Domestic politics during the minority were
uneventful, and universal suffrage was quietly
restored by Sagasta in 1890. But Spain was
confronted with a problem of overwhelming
difficulty in her over-sea dominions. Though
the vast fabric of Empire that she had estab-
lished in the sixteenth century had gradually
crumbled away, she held tenaciously to the
fragments. Of these the richest and most
important was Cuba. On the news of the
expulsion of Isabella, a rising had taken place
which smouldered on till 1878, when Martinez
Campos, the Spanish commander, signed a
convention promising liberal concessions.
The convention was repudiated at Madrid, and
a second rising broke out and was ruthlessly
suppressed. If ever a country deserved to
lose its colonies, it was Spain. The last act
in the long drama began with a new and more

SPAIN 69

formidable revolt in 1895. Martinez Campos,
whose name was the symbol of conciliation,
was sent out with an olive branch. The
Cubans had learnt to be suspicious of promises,
and the General reported that the authority
of Spain could only be restored by barbarous
methods which he refused to employ. He was
recalled in 1896 and succeeded by Weyler,
already known as " the butcher," whose
policy was to starve the rebels into surrender
by destroying their crops and houses and
herding the non-combatants in concentration
camps. Though the Spaniards have never
been squeamish in their dealings with native
races, Weyler's methods were too much for
them ; and when Canovas was murdered in
1897 Sagasta returned to power resolved to
bring the desperate struggle to an end. A
new commander was sent out with an officer
of autonomy, the Reconcentrados were set at
liberty, and a Parliament was summoned.

It was too late, for the Cubans insisted
on independence. This time they knew that
they were not without friends. In the early
days of 1898 the battleship Maine was sent
to Havana to defend American interests ; but
soon after her arrival she was blown into the
air by a mine. The catastrophe cannot have
been the work of any responsible Spaniard,
for Spain was now honestly bent on concilia-
tion. But the situation had passed beyond

70 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

the control of statesmen. A resolution was
passed at Washington declaring the Cubans
free and independent, and Spain was peremp-
torily commanded to withdraw her forces
from the island. To such a demand there
could only be one response. The main fleet
was sent to Cuba ; but the ships were foul,
the guns obsolete and short of ammuni-
tion. When they entered the harbour of
Santiago, an American squadron took up
its station outside. When the town was
threatened from the land the fleet made a
dash for liberty, but was sunk or driven
ashore. The other Spanish fleet had already
been destroyed in the harbour of Manila,
the capital of the Philippines. Santiago
quickly surrendered, preliminaries of peace
were arranged in August, and a treaty was
signed in Paris at the end of the year. Spain
renounced her possession of Cuba, the Philip-
pines, and Porto Rico. The loss of her
transmarine empire was a most bitter
humiliation; but it was quickly seen to be
a blessing in disguise. For many years the
colonies had been a source of continual ex-

Eense, and the perpetual conflict in Cuba
ad produced a great weariness. When the
first pangs of defeat were over, a determina-
tion to repair the loss by internal develop-
ment manifested itself. Trade and commerce
steadily increased, and the national credit

SPAIN 71

improved. The country was in a far healthier
condition when the Regency ended in 1902
than when it began.

Alfonso XIII began his reign at the age of
sixteen, and in 1906 married Princess Ena
of Battenberg. The English marriage was
popular, as it gave Spain a powerful friend
and pointed in the direction of liberal govern-
ment. The Regent had led a very secluded
life, and the revival of the normal activities
of the Court was welcomed by Spanish
society. The courage displayed by the youth-
ful sovereigns on their wedding-day evoked
a thrill of sympathy, and the dynasty has
increased its hold on popular feeling. The
young King has escaped the criticism often
aimed at his mother of being too much
under clerical influence, despite the fact that
after the fall of Sagasta in 1898 the Con-
servatives, led successively by Silvela and
Maura, were almost continuously in office.
After the death of the veteran Liberal leader,
none of his lieutenants commanded the
allegiance of the whole party; but in 1909
two events, occurring simultaneously, brought
the long period of Conservative domination
to an end.

Though Spain lost her distant possessions
in 1898, she retained some stretches of the
coast-line of Morocco. Her power extended
but a very little way from the shore, and

72 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

when iron and lead were discovered near
Melilla and a railway built to the mines, the
tribes revolted and some workmen were
massacred. The rebellion developed into a
war which required the dispatch of over
40,000 troops. The casualties were con-
siderable, and heat and fever did their deadly
work. The expenditure of so much blood
and money on a speculators' war was bitterly
resented, and heartrending scenes were wit-
nessed at the departure of the conscripts for
what was believed to be almost certain death.
While the misfortunes of the Melilla campaign
were undermining the position of the Maura
Government, a fierce revolt suddenly broke
out in Barcelona. The commercial capital
of Spain has never loved Madrid, and the
demand for Catalonian autonomy had steadily
grown in strength. Moreover, Barcelona was
the centre of the anti-clerical propaganda
which characterises the growing cities of
the Spanish sea-board. A riot grew out of
the departure of conscripts for Melilla, and
for several days the city was cut off from the
outer world. Few lives were lost ; but a
number of monasteries and churches were
sacked. The revolt was quelled, martial law
was proclaimed, and Ferrer, the founder of a
network of popular schools with a secularist
atmosphere, was tried by court-martial and
shot.

SPAIN 73

The execution of Ferrer, nominally in
consequence of alleged complicity in the
revolt of Barcelona, was universally regarded
as due to the animosity of the Church. It
was at any rate a blunder as well as a crime.
There was an angry explosion of anti -cleri-
calism all over the world, and the prestige of
Spain was seriously compromised. When the
Chambers met, the Government was fiercely
assailed by the parties of the Left. Maura
resigned, and the veteran Liberal, Moret,
formed a Ministry. Civil rights were restored
to Catalonia, and the campaign in Morocco
was concluded. After troublesome negotia-
tions a treaty was signed by which Mulai
Hafid agreed to pay an indemnity for the
Riff campaign, recognised the right of Spain
to hold for seventy-five years the territory
she had conquered, and entrusted the policing
of the adjoining districts to a Moroccan force
under Spanish instructors.

As Moret was not supported by the full
strength of the party, he was succeeded in
1910 by Canalejas, who, on the death of
Sagasta, had become the leader of a group
of independent Radicals, pledged to a bolder
handling of Church questions than the main
Liberal army cared to adopt. Clericalism
had overreached itself under Maura's rule,
and the number of monks and nuns, swollen
by refugees from the Philippines and from

74 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

France and exempt from nearly all taxation,
was recognised in almost all quarters to be
excessive. Many of them resided in Spain
in defiance of the Concordat of 1851, limiting
the number of authorised Orders to three.
Canalejas determined to put the statute into
operation, and at the same time prohibited
the establishment of new religious houses,
ordered their registration, and repealed the
decree of 1876 forbidding the appearance of
any emblem or notification on Protestant
places of worship. Though the majority of
the Conservative party supported these
proposals, they aroused the hysterical
opposition of the Church. Vast demonstra-
tions and counter - demonstrations were
organised throughout the country, and old
and new Spain were brought face to face.
The Vatican, while frankly expressing its
dislike of the Premier's policy, discounten-
anced the resort to violence, and actual
conflicts were avoided. Neither Pius X
nor Canalejas desire an open rupture, and
the prospects of compromise on the limita-
tion of the Orders have increased.

Ill

The fortunes of Portugal during the nine-
teenth century closely resemble those of her
neighbour. Both countries have suffered

PORTUGAL 75

from a disputed succession, civil war, greedy
politicians, and financial confusion. Both
countries have seen over-sea possessions torn
from them by conquest or revolution. After
half a century of almost ceaseless confusion
Portugal entered on a period of comparative
tranquillity under Luis, who ascended the
throne in 1861. The aged Saldanha forced
himself on the King in 1870, but his quasi-
diet at orship only lasted a few months. With
the accession of Carlos in 1889 a reign began
which witnessed numerous vicissitudes and
ended in tragedy. The decline and fall of
the House of Braganza, though mainly due
to the faults of its members, was precipitated
by events for which it had no responsibility.
A few weeks after the new King came to
the throne a revolution in Brazil overthrew
the Emperor Pedro II, and established a
Republic. Though the colony had declared
its independence in 1822, it had continued to
be governed by members of the Royal House.
The blow struck in Rio was felt in Lisbon,
and the small Republican party was spurred
to further efforts.

In the following year the Monarchy
suffered a still more serious rebuff. During
the heroic age when Portugal founded an
empire in the East she had established
fortified stations in Africa where her fleets
might be repaired and provisioned. When

76 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

the empire faded away, the African posses-
sions remained as mute witnesses of a glorious
past. With the partition of Africa in the
last quarter of the nineteenth century they
again became of potential importance, and
the Portuguese Government claimed enormous
areas of territory in the neighbourhood of
their settlements. An award by Macmahon
in 1875, deciding that Delagoa Bay belonged
to Portugal not to Great Britain, stimulated
her ambition. At the moment when the
British South Africa Company was preparing
its plans, Portugal claimed a broad belt of
land right across the continent, and in 1889
sent a large force under Major Pinto into the
territory between the Zambesi and Lake
Nyassa. The British Government pro-
tested, and in 1890, after fruitless negotiations,
dispatched an ultimatum. Resistance was
out of the question ; but the public humilia-
tion of a people that gloried in the epic
stanzas of Camoens was passionately resented.
Major Pinto became the hero of the hour,
and a scapegoat was found in the King,
who was accused of sacrificing his country to
his Anglophile sympathies. When a British
squadron visited the capital the tradesmen
shut their shops, and Carlos was compelled
to refuse the Garter offered by Queen Victoria.
The revolution in Brazil and the British
ultimatum so weakened the prestige of the

PORTUGAL 77

Monarchy that the Repubhcans were em-
boldened to attempt its overthrow. A rising
took place in Oporto in 1891 ; but the
citizens of the second city in the kingdom
stood aloof. Hundreds of conspirators were
deported, the press was gagged, and an era
of repression began. The people had little
sympathy with the Republicans ; but they
resented the suppression of their liberties,
and the unpopularity of the King was
intensified.

The thrilling events of the opening years
of the reign were followed by a period of
outward tranquillity ; but the decline of
the country continued at a rapid rate. The
State was plundered by the Regeneradores
and the Progressistas, who succeeded one
another in office according to the approved
principles of rotativism. The machine of
government was hopelessly clogged with
corruption. Despite heavy and increasing
taxation, every year witnessed a fresh deficit.
In 1892 it was impossible to meet the interest
on the external debt. Long negotiations
took place with the Council of Foreign
Bondholders, and a special board was set
up in Lisbon to supervise their interests.
Some useful Acts were passed, but they were
rarely put into execution. Factory Acts
remained a dead letter. Elementary educa-
tion was made compulsory, but attendance

78 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

was not enforced. The framework of the
Constitution was rendered more democratic.
Provision was made for the eventual extinc-
tion of hereditary peers, and in 1901 adult
male suffrage, subject to the payment of a
trifling sum in taxation and ability to read
and write, was introduced. But the control
of the people over the Government was in
no way increased by these changes. The
Crown retained its power to veto legislation
and to issue decrees, and elections continued
to yield whatever result the Government
of the day desired.

In 1906 Portuguese politics entered on a
new phase when the King invited Franco to
form an independent Ministry. His wealth
diminished the temptation to dip his hands
into the Treasury, and his private and political
records were unblemished. Had he kept his
promise of an honest and efficient adminis-
tration, the country might have acquiesced
in the temporary suspension of constitutional
forms. A few economies were effected and
a number of sinecures were abolished ; but
the pay of the army and the civil list were
increased. Though his wife, Amelia, a
daughter of the Comte de Paris, brought an
ample dowry, the King's extravagant tastes
made it impossible to live within the limits
of his income, and large sums of public
money had been advanced to the royal

PORTUGAL 79

family. His debt to the State was assessed
at £150,000, which the Minister pretended
to discharge by the surrender of a royal
yacht and the capitalisation of the rent
paid by the State for the use of certain royal
castles. Before Franco had been many
months in office he had succeeded in setting
the whole country against himself and his
master As the opposition developed the
King allowed him to assume the powers
of a dictator. The Cortes were dissolved
in 1907, and the Minister announced that
he would rule without them. Newspapers
were suppressed, meetings prohibited, and
critics of the Government imprisoned or
banished. Municipal councils were suspended
on the ground of disaffection and their work
performed by nominees. Political and civil
liberty disappeared, and the world looked
on, wondering when the crash would come.
In January 1908, the royal family left
the capital for one of their palaces in the
country. The situation in Lisbon was known
to be critical, and some small skirmishes
took place with the police. At the end of
the month Franco announced that he had
discovered a conspiracy, and on January 31
he issued a decree empowering the Govern-
ment to imprison or expel suspects without
form of law. On the following day the
royal family returned, and while driving

80 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

from the landing-stage to the palace were
attacked by a band of men who sprang out
from an arcade. The King and the Crown
Prince were killed on the spot, Prince Manuel
was slightly wounded, and the Queen escaped
as if by a miracle from the hail of bullets.
The mad experiment of Personal Govern-
ment had failed, as it deserved to fail. The
King was dead and the monarchy itself
was mortally stricken. Franco fled across
the frontier, his illegal decrees were annulled,
and a coalition Ministry was formed. For
a moment it was hoped that the sounder
elements of the nation might rally round
the youthful King and inaugurate a better
era ; but the habits of generations were too
deeply ingrained to be shaken off. King
Manuel was only eighteen years old and
lacked personality. No real attempt was
made to discover the authors or instigators
of the crime in Black Horse Square, and the
ship of State drifted rudderless towards
the rapids.

While the dynastic parties were engaged
in sterile conflicts and incessant ministerial
crises, the Republicans were slowly maturing
their plans. When the blow fell in October
1910, the throne toppled over in a night.
A republic was proclaimed, the palace was
bombarded by rebel ships in the Tagus,
the King fled from the capital, and after a

PORTUGAL 81

few hours' desultory fighting in the streets
the Royahst troops were defeated or joined
the winning side. A Provisional Government
was formed, and the provinces and the colonies
accepted the revolution with alacrity. The
disappearance of the House of Braganza
was witnessed without a protest and without
a sigh. The members of the new Govern-
ment were able, honourable, and enlightened
men ; but they lacked experience. The
President, Professor Braga, was a scholar
and poet of European reputation. The
Foreign Minister, Machado, had lived in
Paris, and was known for his wide culture
and sympathetic personality. The Minister
of Justice, Costa, was a lawyer of extreme
opinions and iron will. Their ideal was
a purely secular democracy. The monarchy
was gone, and they were resolved that its
allies, the Church and the Orders, which had
stunted the intellect of the people, should
follow it. The Republic could tolerate obscur-
antism as little as despotism. Within a
few days of the revolution they roughly
expelled the Jesuits and other Orders on the
strength of obsolete laws, and announced
their intention of terminating the connection
of Church and State.

A dead calm followed the whirlwind of
revolution ; but it was not long before the
waters again began to stir. The working

82 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

classes, finding that the change had brought
them no tangible benefits, lost their enthusiasm
and broke into strikes. The Pretender, Dom
Miguel, announced that as Manuel had been
deposed and was unlikely to return, he held
himself ready to accept a call to the throne.
To these anxieties were added others of the
Government's own making. Their treatment
of the Church was needlessly provocative,
and the banishment of the judges who ac-
quitted the ex-dictator. Franco, on a charge
of treason recalled the worst days of the
Monarchy. The press was gagged, and the
expression of any but Republican opinions
vigorously repressed. The postponement of
the elections till June 1911 gave time for
discontent to accumulate. For the present
the main strength of the Republic lies in
the weakness of its opponents.

CHAPTER IV

GERMANY AND AUSTRIA-HUNGARY

The main events in the history of Germany
during the years following unification were
the struggle with the Roman Church, the
rise of a Socialist party, the establishment
of Protection in 1879, the nationalisation of
railways, the inauguration of State-aided
insurance against sickness, accident, inval-
idity and old age, and the foundation of a
Colonial Empire. Modestly realising his own
limitations and the almost superhuman genius
of his mighty Chancellor, the Emperor William
devoted the evening of his life to the super-
vision of his army. It was a fitting close to
his career that in the year before his death
a large increase in the forces should be
sanctioned by the Reichstag after an appeal
to the country.

In March 1888 William I died at the age
of ninety; but his son was already doomed
83

84 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

when he ascended the throne at the age of
fifty-eight. The Crown Prince Frederick had
won fame in the campaigns which made the
Empire, but since 1871 he had fretted in
enforced idleness. A disease in the throat,
which the German doctors pronounced to be
cancer, appeared early in 1887 ; but the
operation which might have prolonged the
sufferer's life was postponed till it was too
late on the advice of Sir Morell Mackenzie.
The stricken man passed the winter on the
Riviera, and when he ascended the throne
he could no longer articulate. He had only
ninety-nine days to live ; but they were enough
to indicate the direction in which his thoughts
were running. He conferred high decora-
tions on Jews who had rendered distinguished
service to the State, and on Virchow, who
was not only a great scientist but a leader
of the Radical party. Of greater importance
was the dismissal of Puttkammer, Minister
of the Interior, a friend of the Chancellor
and a pillar of the reaction. Despite such
flickers of illumination, the reign to which
Europe had looked forward with hopeful
eagerness was but a tragic interlude of suffer-
ing and sorrow.

The new Emperor, William II, who ascended
the throne at the age of twenty-nine, had little
affection for his parents, but was filled with an
almost idolatrous admiration for his grand-

GERMANY 85

father. He had sat at the feet of Bismarck, for
whom he entertained boundless enthusiasm,
and his accession was hailed with delight in
Conservative and military circles. Whereas
the first proclamation of Frederick had been to
his people, that of his son w^as addressed to
the army. The new ruler, indeed, spared
no pains to show how little he respected his
father's memory or his mother's grief. He
decorated Puttkammer and gave him a seat
in the Prussian Upper House. He restored
the name of the New Palace, which his father
had altered to Friedrichskron. These were
comparative trifles ; but worse was to follow.
Dr. Geffcken published passages from the late
Emperor's diary designed to show that he
had played a more prominent part in the
foundation of the Empire than was commonly
believed. Bismarck denounced the publica-
tion as a forgery, and the Emperor ordered
his Chancellor to draw up a report on it.
The report, though filled with statements
damaging to his father's memory, was pub-
lished with the Emperor's sanction ; and
when the Court acquitted Geffcken of the
charge of treason, the whole dossier prepared
by the prosecution was printed. The Chan-
cellor was paying off old scores ; but for the
Emperor there was no excuse.

While William II had no misgivings as to
his ability to steer the ship of State, Bismarck

86 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

believed himself to be more than ever indis-
pensable with a young and inexperienced
ruler on the throne. Disagreements both on
foreign and domestic policy quickly occurred.
The anti-socialist law, passed in 1878 and
renewed at intervals, was due to expire in
1890 ; and Bismarck proposed to substitute
a permanent measure. The Reichstag proved
hostile, and when a rumour arose that the
Emperor favoured a milder Bill, it was re-
jected. In the next place, the Emperor
objected to the secret treaty with Russia as
disloyal to Austria. Finally, the Chancellor
threw cold water on his young master's plan
to summon an International Congress for the
discussion of labour problems. The crisis,
however, did not arise from disagreement on
policy. The Emperor insisted on entering
into direct relations with his ministers ; and
when Bismarck quoted the Cabinet Order of
1852, by which all communications between
King and ministers were to be made through
the Premier, he demanded its repeal. Shortly
after this controversy the Emperor learned
that the Chancellor had invited Windthorst,
the Catholic leader, to his palace, and at
once sent to inform him that he desired to
be told when political discussions were to
take place. Bismarck replied that he could
not let any one decide his visitors for him.
Early next morning the Emperor arrived at

GERMANY 87

the Chancellor's residence and asked what
subjects he had discussed with Windthorst.
Bismarck angrily replied that the conversa-
tion was private, and that he was willing to
resign if the Emperor desired. The following
day was a Sunday, and on the Monday the
Emperor's secretary brought a demand for his
resignation.

William II began to reign in 1888, and to
govern in 1890, when he dropped the pilot.
He explained in eloquent utterances that he
would brook neither competition nor opposi-
tion. " There is only one master in this
country, and I am he. I shall suffer no other
beside me." " I see in the people and the
land which have descended to me a talent
entrusted to me by God, which it is my duty
to increase. Those who will help me I
heartily welcome; those who oppose me I
shall dash in pieces." He declared that he
was responsible for his actions to God and
his conscience alone. Though by far the
ablest of the Hohenzollerns since Frederick
the Great, he was unequal to the part of
universal arbiter in politics and religion, art
and literature. His ideals of personal govern-
ment and divine right were out of date. His
people laughed at his claims and his eccen-
tricities, and an audacious Bavarian professor
compared him to Caligula. The new reign
witnessed not only the emergence of the

88 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

Imperial factor but important changes in
high policy. Bismarck had won for his
country the hegemony of Europe, and his
aim was to avoid whatever might endanger
it. For this reason he clung to Russia, even
after the conclusion of the Triple Alliance,
and gave her a free hand in the Near East.
William II, on the other hand, entered freely
into competition with the Tsar for influence
in Turkey. An even more momentous de-
parture was soon announced. While Bis-
marck felt no enthusiasm for a Colonial
Empire, William announced himself a zealous
adherent of Imperialism, whose ambition was
to do for the navy what his grandfather had
done for the army. With the utterance of
the famous words, " Our future lies on the
water," a new chapter of German history
begins.

Bismarck's successor, General Caprivi,
loyally carried out the orders of his imperious
master ; but his difficulties were enormously
increased by Parthian shots from Fried-
richsruh. " I cannot lie down like a
hibernating bear," cried the fallen hero.
He sneered at the academic debates of the
Labour Congress, prophesied revolution when
the anti-socialist law was allowed to lapse,
declared the acquisition of Heligoland too
dearly purchased by the surrender of
Zanzibar, pronounced the alliance of France

GERMANY 89

and Russia the consequence of blundering
diplomacy, and encouraged opposition to the
conclusion of commercial treaties. The
Emperor retaliated by decorating Bismarck's
enemies, and by persuading the Austrian
Court to boycott him when he journeyed to
Vienna for the marriage of his son Herbert.
The conflict inflicted such damage on the
Empire that influential mediators came
forward. In 1893 the Emperor held out an
olive-branch, which was repulsed ; but in
1894 a public reconciliation was effected.
Bismarck was invited to Berlin, and the
Emperor returned the visit at Friedrichsruh.
During the last four years of the ex-
Chancellor's life the semblance of friendliness
was preserved ; but the events of 1890 were
never forgiven.

During Caprivi's tenure of office the army
was increased in 1890 and again, after an
appeal to the country, in 1893, the period of
service being at the same time reduced to
two years. The income from the royal
property of the deposed King of Hanover,
known as the Guelf Fund, which Bismarck
had employed to control the press, was
restored to the Duke of Cumberland. But
the main achievement of the Chancellor was
the conclusion of commercial treaties with
Austria, Italy, Belgium, and Switzerland in
1891, and with Russia, after a bitter tariff

90 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

war, in 1894. The fierce hostility of the
Agrarians to the Russian treaty made his
position untenable, and the Emperor dis-
pensed with his services.

His successor was Prince Hohenlohe, a
liberal Catholic, who had been Prime Minister
of Bavaria before 1870, Ambassador in
Paris, and Governor of Alsace-Lorraine. His
prestige and experience secured him more
consideration than his predecessor ; but as he
was seventy-five years old and cared little for
power, his influence was limited. His out-
spoken Memoirs suggest the difficulties he
experienced in co-operating with his impulsive
master.

The lapse of the anti-socialist law and the
summoning of the Labour Congress in 1890
had raised hopes of better relations between
the Crown and the working classes ; but
the expectation was disappointed. The
Socialists, who had 3 seats in the Reichstag
of 1871, 35 in that of 1890, and 44 in that of
1893, increased their poll at every election.
An annual Congress met for the first time
in 1890, and in 1891 the Erfurt Programme
was elaborated. The Emperor watched their
rapid growth with dismay, and spoke bitterly
of the "traitorous rabble." Disappointed by
the results of his policy of conciliation he
determined to revive coercion ; but in 1895
the Reichstag rejected a measure punishing

GERMANY 91

with imprisonment attacks on religion, the
monarchy, property, and the family. A
dissolution would have been useless, and
the Emperor was forced to content himself
with oratorical denunciations of Socialism.
For protesting against one of these tirades
Liebknecht, the leader of the party, was
imprisoned for treason. The battle continued,
and on Liebknecht's death Bebel became
the most formidable critic of the system of
personal rule.

The main task of the middle years of the
reign was to emphasise the r61e of Germany
as a World Power by the construction of a
fleet and the acquisition of new colonies and
spheres of influence. Heligoland provided a
convenient naval base at the mouth of the
Elbe, and the Kiel Canal was completed in
1895. A few warships were built in the first
decade of the reign ; but in 1897 a programme
of construction to be carried out by 1904
was approved. The increase of the navy
was justified by the rapid development of
commerce and the growth of the mercantile
marine ; but its main purpose was to enable
the Fatherland to play a leading part in
Weltpolitik, With the exception of the
Socialists every party welcomed the entry
of Germany into the ranks of naval Powers,
and the Navy League, which enjoyed
Imperial patronage, obtained an enormous

92 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

membership. A new programme was
authorised in 1900, fixing the strength at 38
battleships, 14 large cruisers, and 38 small
cruisers, to be completed in 1917. A law
of 1906 increased the number of large cruisers
by 6, and in 1908 the life of battleships was
shortened from 25 to 20 years, necessitating
the construction of 4 annually in place of 3
during the years 1908-11.

Without waiting for the completion of his
fleet the Emperor began to assert his power.
In 1895 he joined France and Russia in
ordering Japan to disgorge her conquests on
the Chinese mainland. In 1897 he compelled
China to lease Kiao-Chou in expiation of
the murder of German missionaries, and dis-
patched a squadron under his sailor brother.
Prince Henry, to take possession of it. In
1899 he secured a new foothold in the Pacific
by the purchase of the Caroline Islands from
Spain. In 1900 he obtained the consent of
the other Powers to place a German General
at the head of the international force which
marched to Pekin. In the Near East, German
influence increased no less rapidly. While
Europe shuddered at the Armenian atrocities
the Emperor ostentatiously displayed his
friendliness for the Great Assassin. His
spectacular journey to Syria in 1898 provided
an opportunity for announcing himself the
protector of Mohammedans throughout the

GERMANY 93

world, and the concession to a German
Company of the right to continue the
Anatohan railway system to Bagdad and the
Persian Gulf represented the high- water mark
of Turkish complaisance.

Hohenlohe resigned in 1900 and was suc-
ceeded by Billow, the Foreign Secretary.
Though his training had been exclusively in
diplomacy, he displayed considerable skill in
driving the parliamentary team. His first
conflict arose in 1902 on the introduction of a
new tariff, raising the duty on corn and meat
after the expiration of Caprivi's treaties. The
parties of the Left, resting on the vote of the
towns, vigorously opposed the change, which
was finally carried by closure in a form even
more favourable to the Agrarian interest than
on its introduction. The Chancellor declared
that he desired no better epitaph than that
he was a friend of the Agrarians ; but the
unpopularity of the new tariff was shown in
the election of 1903, when the Socialists
increased their poll to 3 millions and their
seats from 58 to 81.

The second battle was in reference to the
Colonies. A revolt broke out in German
South West Africa, which proved unex-
pectedly difficult to repress. The cost in
blood and money was continually growing,
and tales of misconduct increased the depres-
sion. The Centre, rendered critical by the

94 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

reports of Catholic missionaries, denounced
the administration of the local officials, and in
1905 combined with the Socialists to reject
the estimates for a colonial railway. The
Reichstag was dissolved, Biilow declared war
on the Centre and the Socialists, and Dern-
burg, the Colonial Minister, opened a campaign
in the great cities, painting the future of the
Colonies in glowing colours. The Socialist
representation fell to 43, though they increased
their poll by 250,000 ; but the Centre
returned in undiminished strength. The
Chancellor appealed to the Conservatives,
National Liberals, and Radicals to sink their
differences. A bloc was formed ; but it was
too artificial to last. Controversial legislation
was avoided ; but when, in 1909, despite
the issue of numerous loans, new taxation to
the extent of 25 millions was necessitated, the
Conservatives rebelled against the proposed
death duties. The Chancellor resigned after
the passage of the Budget in a modified form,
and was succeeded by Bethmann-Hollweg, an
experienced official but without knowledge
of foreign affairs.

While the occasion of Billow's resignation
was the revolt of the Conservatives, it was
widely held that the real cause was different.
Throughout the reign the Emperor's impulsive
speeches and telegrams had caused anxiety ;
and in 1908 an utterance appeared which

GERMANY 95

stirred Europe more than any action since the
message to Kruger in 1896. A long interview
appeared in the Daily Telegraph, containing
outspoken declarations on his own and his
people's feelings in the past and present
towards England and other countries. When
the Reichstag met, the party leaders roundly
declared that such indiscretions must cease.
The Chancellor communicated something like
a promise to refrain from personal interven-
tions in politics, and added that neither he
nor any future Chancellor could hold office if
they continued. On the publication of the
interview he had offered his resignation ; but
his master had pressed him to retain office,
at any rate till the new taxes were passed.
For the next eighteen months the Emperor
abstained from the expression of his personal
views.

Every member of the German federation
leads a life of its own in addition to sharing
the fortunes of the Empire. The adoption
of a common Code in 1900 was dictated by
practical utility ; but the smaller States are
always on their guard against encroachments
by the predominant partner. Even in Prussia
itself resistance to the royal will is not un-
known. In 1892 a Bill increasing the influence
of the clergy in the schools was withdrawn
in consequence of an irrepressible outburst of
public opinion. In 1899 a still more damaging

96 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

blow was struck. The Government proposed
to construct a canal joining the Rhine and
the Elbe ; but the Conservatives, believing
that it would lower the price of corn and
meat, rejected the Bill despite the threats of
their ruler. The leaders of the revolt were
promptly dismissed from their posts at Court
and in the local administration ; but when the
Bill was reintroduced in 1901 the hostility-
was as great as ever, and a second defeat was
averted by the withdrawal of the measure.

The most burning question of Prussian
politics is that of the franchise. The Con-
stitution of 1850 established indirect election,
and divided voters into three classes according
to their income. Thus while the Socialists
polled by far the largest number of votes, they
were without representation in the Landtag
till 1908, when they secured 7 seats out of a
total of nearly 400. Such a parody of repre-
sentative government could only be main-
tained by force ; and colossal demonstrations
in the great cities have revealed the strength
of the demand for reform. A Bill introducing
the ballot but retaining the three-class system
in a modified form was passed by the Landtag
in 1910 ; but as it satisfied neither the Right
nor the Left it was withdrawn. A second
grave problem is that of the Poles. The
attempt to Germanise the Polish districts by
allowing only German in the elementary

GERMANY 97

schools has been defeated by the stubborn
determination of the people to maintain their
language and by the rapid increase in popula-
tion. In 1906 popular resentment flared up.
The children declined to answer questions in
German, and finally refused to attend school.
The Government punished the " school
strikes" by fines, expulsions, and imprison-
ment ; but the sullen opposition remains. A
second line of attack began in 1886, when
Bismarck embarked on an extensive plan of
colonisation. The policy of subsidised settle-
ments has been continued at enormous cost
by his successors, but without effect. Exas-
perated by failure the Government carried
an Expropriation Bill in 1908, empowering the
Land Commission to buy whatever it needed
at its own price. Despite these tyrannical
methods the Poles hold more land to-day than
when the colonisation began. Nowhere has
the regimentation of a people been more
systematically pursued, and nowhere has its
failure been more complete.

Of the other subject nationalities there is
less to relate. The Danes in Schleswig are
too few to resist the Prussian steam-roller ;
and a treaty with Denmark in 1907 removed
some of their worst grievances. The repre-
sentation of Alsace-Lorraine in the Reichstag
indicates a gradual diminution of hostility,
and in 1911 its autonomy was extended and

D

98 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

the sending of delegates to the Bundesrath
authorised. The smaller States of the German
Empire have made steady progress under
more liberal institutions than those of
Prussia.

II

The expulsion of the House of Hapsburg
from the German Confederation and from
Italy in 1866 was followed by far-reaching
internal changes. Hungarian autonomy was
revived and parliamentary institutions were
granted to Austria. For some years the
German Liberals were in office ; but in 1879
Taaffe, a friend of Francis Joseph from
childhood, became Prime Minister and held
office till 1893. It was his wish no less than
that of his master to form a Ministry repre-
senting all races and parties ; and though the
Germans resented their diminished influence,
the Government was strengthened by the
support of the Czechs, who had hitherto
refused to take their seats in the Reichsrath.
A Czech University was founded at Prague
and the Czech language received recognition
for official purposes, while the support of
the Polish nobles of Galicia was obtained by
allowing them to deal with the Ruthenian
minority at their pleasure. Such a system
could not last for ever. In Bohemia the
Old Czechs, who represented the nobility,

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY 99

were gradually displaced by the Young
Czechs, who opposed the Conservative and
clerical policy of Taaffe, and demanded that
the Emperor should be crowned King of
Bohemia, like his predecessors. When Taaffe
dissolved in 1891, the Young Czechs cap-
tured every Czech seat. He held on for
two years ; but Bohemia was now in up-
roar.

The nationalities continued their bicker-
ings ; but the main interest was transferred
to electoral reform. The demand for universal
suffrage was supported by the Socialists,
the new anti-Semitic party of Christian
Socialism, the Young Czechs, and the German
Nationalists. Taaffe had realised the neces-
sity of enfranchising the working classes,
but had been forced to withdraw a far-
reaching scheme. His successors found the
task no less thorny, and in 1896 a timid
measure was passed, adding a fifth class or
Curia of voters by universal suffrage, in which
citizens over twenty-four, whether entitled
to vote in the existing Curiae or not, were
included. To the new class, which com-
prised 5 J million voters, were allotted 72 seats,
while the remaining 353 members were elected
by less than 2 million voters. Such a
half-hearted reform, instead of solving the
problem, made it certain that it would shortly
be reopened.
d2

100 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

The Chamber elected in 1897 showed that
the new voters had only increased the number
and confusion of parties. Fourteen Socialists
made their appearance, and the Chamber
included twenty-four distinct groups. Badeni,
who had passed the Franchise Bill, required a
majority to renew the decennial arrangement
with Hungary. To obtain it he bought the
Czechs by the Language Ordinances, which
threw Austrian politics into confusion for a
decade. Proficiency in Czech and German
was required from virtually every Govern-
ment official in Bohemia. The decrees only
went a little beyond those of Taaffe ; but the
resistance of the Germans was now far more
vigorous. Behind the equality of language
they detected approval of an autonomous
Bohemia in federal relations with other parts
of Austria. Their obstruction brought the
parliamentary machine to a standstill, and
Badeni resigned. Two short-lived Ministries
followed, the Budgets were promulgated by
decree, and the Compromise with Hungary
was provisionally adopted. When a third
Ministry dropped the Badeni decrees, the
Czechs borrowed the obstructionist tactics
of their opponents. The confusion suggested
new methods to the Emperor, who in 1900
chose Korber, an experienced official, to con-
ciliate the racial factions by a programme
of canals and railways. But the Czechs

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY 101

continued to obstruct, and a new element
of discord was introduced after the election
of 1901 by the appearance of a powerful Pan-
German and Los von Rom party.

After an heroic struggle Korber was forced
to resign in 1904. By this time it was obvious
that a mitigation of the racial conflict was
impossible without an extension of the
franchise. Early in 1906 Gautsch, his suc-
cessor, introduced a Bill which became law
early in 1907. The five classes were swept away,
and the franchise was granted to men over
twenty-four with a residential qualification of
one year. The constituencies were made
as nearly as possible racially homogeneous.
The Germans obtained a larger and the
Czechs and the Ruthenians a smaller number
of their seats than their numbers warranted ;
but such inequalities were tolerated for the
sake of universal franchise. The Reform Bill
carried with it two great changes. In the first
place, the Chamber was no longer divided
almost exclusively on racial lines. The
two strongest parties, the Christian Socialists
and the Social Democrats, represented
interests independent of racial frontiers,
while the Pan-Germans almost disappeared.
In the second place, the Emperor was com-
pelled to buy the assent of the Upper House
to the measure by surrendering his right to
override opposition by an unlimited creation

102 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

of peers. Universal suffrage has on the whole
justified the expectations of the Emperor.
The feud of Germans and Czechs in Bohemia,
of Poles and Ruthenians in Galicia, and of
Germans and Italians in Tyrol continues ;
but the sentiment of solidarity grows with
every year of the reign of Francis Joseph,
and the apprehension that the polyglot
Empire will go to pieces on the accession of
his nephew has disappeared.

Hungary was punished for its revolt in
1848 by twenty years of despotic rule from
Vienna ; but the disasters of 1866 deter-
mined the Emperor to seek a reconciliation.
Full autonomy was restored, and Francis
Joseph was crowned King at Buda-Pesth.
The two halves of the Dual Monarchy were
connected by their common ruler, by conmion
Ministers of Foreign Affairs, War, and Finance,
and by the Delegations which meet alter-
nately in the two capitals. Though Kossuth
stood aloof and remained in voluntary exile,
the majority of Hungarians gladly accepted
an arrangement which not only restored
their national life but gave them an equal
share in controlling the destinies of the joint
State.

With the retirement of Deak and Andrassy
their party crumbled to pieces, and in 1875
Coloman Tisza, the leader of the Left, be-
came Premier, and remained the virtual

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY 103

Dictator of Hungary for fifteen years. An
important change in the Constitution was
effected in 1885. The Great Nobles had
for centuries possessed the right to attend
Parhament in person, though in modern
times most of them seldom appeared. Such
a Chamber was clearly doomed. The right
of hereditary peers to a seat in the Table of
Magnates was limited to members who paid
£250 a year in land taxes. This drastic step
reduced the hereditary members from about
800 to 250. At the same time life members,
high officials, and representatives of the
Churches were introduced. Despite these
changes the Magyar landed aristocracy
remains supreme in the Upper Chamber.

Tisza's governing principle was to in-
crease the power of the Magyars in the
State. Deak and Eotvos had desired to
assimilate the non- Magyar races by the
attraction of a superior culture, and guar-
anteed them certain rights by the Law of
Nationalities of 1868. Cynically disregard-
ing their charter, Tisza made Magyar the
sole medium of instruction in State secondary
schools, closed the schools of other races, and
declared that there was "no Slovak nation."
The high franchise excluded the minor races
from a share in power, and ruthless pressure
was exerted by the Government at elections.
Literary and religious no less than political

104 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

movements among Slovaks and Roumanians
were suppressed, and constant friction arose
with Croatia, despite its partial autonomy.

Tisza fell in 1890, and in 1892 Wekerle,
the leader of the Extreme Left, became
Premier. His accession to office was the
signal for fierce political conflict. Mixed
marriages were frequent ; and the law de-
clared that the children were to be brought
up in the communion of the parent whose
sex they inherited. The priests insisted on
baptizing all the children of mixed marriages
and entering their names as Catholics in
the parish register. To meet this encroach-
ment registration was taken out of their
hands, and Wekerle finally determined to
introduce compulsory civil marriage. The
Bill passed the Lower House with a large
majority, but was rejected by the Magnates,
most of whom were Catholics. The Lower
House having again passed it, Wekerle
begged the King to create peers. Francis
Joseph, who disliked the measure, refused,
whereon Wekerle resigned. No one, how-
ever, was able to form a Ministry, and in
ten days he was recalled. The Bill was
accepted, and the predominance of the Lower
House over the Magnates and the Crown
was established. Wekerle's successor, Banffy,
carried bills through the Lower House sanc-
tioning the Jewish religion and establishing

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY 105

freedom of worship, which were in turn
rejected or mutilated by the Magnates ;
but when they were sent up a second time
the Peers surrendered.

The Compromise of 1867 had given Hun-
gary an equal position in the Dual Monarchy ;
but as she became stronger the demand
for greater independence arose. In 1889
" The Imperial Army " became " The Im-
perial and Royal Army." When the Com-
promise fell to be renewed in 1897 Hungary
obtained an increased influence over the
joint Bank and a larger share of the common
customs receipt ; but Banffy agreed that
the new arrangements should remain in
force till they were cancelled by legislation.
The Kossuthist party, who desired a merelv
personal Union, protested against the con-
cession, and Banffy fell.

The tendency towards greater independence
now manifested itself even more strongly.
The Kossuthists claimed a national army,
while the Emperor-King stood immovably
for an undivided force. Aitev controversies
which brought two Ministries to the ground,
Stephen Tisza, the son of the famous
Minister, took office with authority to grant
certain concessions. Hungarian flags and
banners were to be employed, and the com-
mand of Hungarian regiments to be en-
trusted exclusively to Hungarian officers

106 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

but German was to remain the common
language for the words of command. The
Opposition was dissatisfied, and the Ministry-
was weakened by the formidable hostility
of Apponyi, who left the Liberal party
when Tisza took office, and of Julius Andrassy,
the son of Deak's colleague. An attempt
to alter the rules of the House led to violent
scenes ; and when Parliament was dis-
solved in 1905 Tisza was routed, and the
parties of Independence, which rejected or
disliked the Compromise of 1867, obtained
a sweeping victory. The Coalition demanded
concessions which the King refused to grant ;
and after months of negotiation Fejervary,
an intimate friend of the King, took office
without a majority. The Opposition, con-
scious ol their strength, stood firm. It was
at this moment and in order to break their
serried ranks that Kristoffy, the Minister
of the Interior, proposed an extension of the
suffrage. A compromise was at last reached.
Wekerle took office, supported by Francis
Kossuth, the son of the hero, Apponyi and
Andrassy, and changes in the army were
postponed till universal suffrage had been
introduced.

The rule of the Coalition, though restoring
constitutional government, brought little satis-
faction to the country. The Croats declared
that the promises of better treatment had

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY 107

not been fulfilled, and the Croatian Constitu-
tion was suspended. The Ministry proposed
to neutralise the effects of universal suffrage
on Magyar domination by plural voting and
the gerrymandering of electoral divisions.
Such a scheme was no honest redemption of
the pledge with which they had taken office.
The Ministry was discredited by corruption,
feuds broke out between its groups, and in
1910 it resigned. Hedervary, a henchman
of the King, took office, dissolved Parliament,
and by unblushing pressure routed the
Coalition. The separatist policy has received
a temporary check ; but no one can foretell
the future of Hungarian parties. Universal
suffrage and the ballot will introduce many
new elements into the Chamber, and direct
attention to the needs and sufferings of the
Nationalities.

Alone of the Great Powers, Austria-Hungary
possesses no colonies ; but Bosnia and Her-
zegovina, the administration of which was
entrusted to the Dual Monarchy by the Berlin
Treaty of 1878, have been governed through
a common Finance Minister. The efforts of
Kallay, a Hungarian, who ruled for twenty
years, established order and introduced the
material side of civilisation into the Turkish
provinces. After the annexation in 1908 a
Constitution was granted ; but autonomy is
still far off. The scheme of a Southern Slav

108 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

State, including Croatia, Dalmatia, and the
two provinces, and forming with Austria and
Hungary a federal Empire, has some ad-
herents ; but its adoption might open up
more problems than it would solve.

CHAPTER V

EASTERN EUROPE

When Alexander III ascended the Russian
throne in 1881 he was urged to issue the
Ukase for a consultative Assembly of Notables
which Alexander II had signed on the morning
of his assassination. But the new Tsar pre-
ferred the principles of Pobedonostseff, Pro-
curator of the Holy Synod, and of Katkjff,
editor of the Moscow Gazette, who taaght
that autocracy and orthodoxy alone could
save Russia from the scepticism and anarchy
of Western Europe. The Tsar, whose per-
sonal character was exemplary, lacked his
father's quick intelligence and personal charm,
and inherited none of the generous impulses
which had led to the emancipation of the
serfs and the establishment of Zemstvos, or
county councils. The Court lived in impene-
trable seclusion, and the government was
carried on by a corrupt and reactionary

bureaucracy. The Nihilists were executed or

109

110 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

banished, and in 1888 the American traveller,
Kennan, revealed to the world the horrors
of the Siberian prisons. The press was
muzzled, the privileges of University students
curtailed, and the power of the Zemstvos
severely limited. Russia was in the grip of
a deadly obscurantism, and the Intelligentia
either threw themselves into Socialism or
looked on in dumb despair. Homogeneity
was sought at all costs. The Protestant
Stundists of the South were mercilessly
harried ; but no class or race suffered so
much as the Jews, who were confined to the
towns of the West, excluded from a share in
local government, partially debarred from
access to school, and forbidden to hold
property outside the towns or engage in agri-
culture. It is more than a coincidence that
it was during this reign that Tolstoi began
to preach the wickedness of all coercion.
It was also a time of acute and growing
suffering. In 1891-3 half the country was
faced with starvation. The reign of Alex-
ander III was a period of national paralysis,
and his only service to his country was the
maintenance of peace.

The accession of Nicholas II in 1894 at the
age of twenty-six aroused hopes of a change of
system. Several Zemstvos begged that their
representatives might be invited to assist in
the drafting of laws ; but the reply to these

RUSSIA 111

loyal counsels was a cruel disappointment.
The Tsar declared his intention of maintaining
the principles of autocracy inviolate, and
dismissed the claims to share in the administra-
tion as " senseless dreams." Like his father
he was a pupil of Pobedonostseff, and the
world learned with dismay that the numbing
influence of the Procurator was to dominate
the new reign as it had dominated the old.
Yet forces were at work which in time were
bound to ruffle the stagnant waters. In 1892
Witte had become Minister of Finance. His
ambition was to develop, it might almost
be said to create, Russian industry. He
improved credit by establishing a fixed value
for the rouble and increasing the gold reserve.
He extended State monopolies, buying up
private railways and making new State lines.
A gigantic tariff secured the home market to
manufacturers. In 1894 he established a
Government monopoly of the sale of spirits.
He boasted that he had altered every tax
that he found ; but his policy of raising
revenue by indirect taxation increased the
burden of the poor. Some relief was found
when the construction of the Siberian rail-
way facilitated migration across the Ural
mountains.

Witte approached his work rather from
the standpoint of a man of business than
a politician. Alarmed by the discovery that

112 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

less grain was being sown and that the con-
sumption of bread was declining, he estab-
hshed a Commission in 1902 to assist agri-
culture, which appointed Committees repre-
senting the localities. Many of these bodies
went beyond the original purpose of their
institution, and demanded freedom of the
press and representative institutions. They
were condemned by Pobedonostseff, and in
1903 Witte was dismissed from the Ministry
of Finance after eleven years of memorable
endeavour. The Tsar was thoroughly scared
by the spread of Socialism, the strikes among
the rapidly increasing factory workers, the
unrest in the Universities, and the growing
boldness of the press. Though Witte was
not a Liberal, he was too conscious of the
faults of autocratic government to be en-
trusted with its defence. On his fall Plehve,
the Minister of the Interior, became Dictator
of Russia. The first of a new series of attacks
on the Jews, condoned if not originated by
the Government, occurred in 1903 at Kis-
hineff.

The Japanese War overthrew the system
of Plehve as the Crimean War had destroyed
the system of Nicholas I. Indignation was
aroused by the discovery of unblushing
peculation and shameful incompetence both
at the base and the front. Even the co-
operation of the Zemstvos in the organisation

RUSSIA 113

of relief was rebuked by the Minister, and
his assassination, in July 1904, was hailed
witii delight. After deliberating for a month
the Tsar appointed Prince Mirski, one of
the most enlightened administrators in the
Empire. The new Minister's first step was
to ask for the eonfidence of the public.
A Conference of members of Zemstvos at
St. Petersburg showed itself at once moderate
and determined. They demanded inviola-
bility of the person, freedom of conscience,
speech, meeting, association, and instruction,
the abolition of exceptional laws, amnesty for
political prisoners, and an elected national
assembly, which the majority desired to
possess legislative powers and which all
agreed should control finance. The Court
was torn asunder by conflicting counsels.
An edict promising a wider franchise and
larger powers for local bodies was followed
by a denunciation of the claims of the
reformers as incompatible with the funda-
mental laws of the country. A strict censor-
ship was revived, and the tide of reform
began to ebb.

In the early days of 1905 an event occurred
which opened a deep chasm between the
Sovereign and the reformers. While a
salute was being fired a shot fell close to the
Tsar. He left the capital, and when, three
days later, Father Gapon headed a gigantic

114 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

deputation of strikers and their families, che
unarmed crowds were shot down by troops.
Mirski was dismissed, General Trepoff became
Dictator of St. Petersburg, and Bioody
Sunday was followed by a fierce struggle
throughout the country. The peasantry
attacked the manor-houses, police officers
were assassinated by scores, and the Tsar's
uncle, the Grand Duke Serge, was murdered
in Moscow. The wiser heads at Court
recognised that the situation called for con-
cessions, and in March the Tsar declared
his intention of summoning an elective
assembly. Reforms affecting the Dissenters,
the Jews, and the Nationalities were pro-
mulgated, and the censorship of the press
once more lapsed. A great Congress of
Zemstvo leaders at Moscow demanded the
immediate convocation of a national assembly.
In August a decree announced the establish-
ment of a consultative Duma, chosen by
indirect election. In October the Tsar felt
himself compelled to dismiss Pobedonostseff
and Trepoff, and to recall Witte with the
position of a Prime Minister. The first
fruits of the change appeared in the Manifesto
of October 30th, which promised freedom of
conscience, speech, meeting, and association,
a wide franchise, a veto on legislation, and
effective control over the acts of officials.
The Manifesto satisfied the Conservative

\ RUSSIA 115

reformers who followed Shipoff, the head of
the Moscow Zemstvo, and who were hence-
forth known as Octobrists.

On his return to office Witte invited
Shipoff to join the Ministry. Shipoff con-
sented on condition that the Constitutional
Democrats, popularly known as the Cadets,
who followed Professor Miliukoff, were
included. Witte was willing, but the demands
of the Cadets threatened the prerogatives of
the Tsar. Another storm now burst over
the land. Mutinies broke out in the army
and the fleet, and a revolt in Moscow was
savagely repressed. Again the Govern-
ment spoke with two voices. Durnovo, the
Minister of the Interior, encouraged brutal
reprisals, and incitements to riot were
printed in the Government offices and
circulated by the fanatical Union of the
Russian People. From the other camp Witte
issued a decree conceding something like
universal suffrage. When the elections took
place in the spring of 1906 the reformers
obtained an overwhelming majority. The
largest party in the Duma was that of the
Cadets. The newly formed Labour Group,
representing the peasantry, came next, and
the Octobrists only numbered about fifty.
The Extreme Right was scarcely represented.
Witte was succeeded in the Premiership by
Goremykin ; but the leading spirit of the

116 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

new Ministry was Stolypin, who had won
his spurs in provincial administration.

In reply to the Speech from the Throne
the Duma boldly demanded control over the
executive. It then carried a vote of censure
on the Ministry, sent a Commission to report
on the latest pogrom, and introduced a Land
Bill incorporating the Labour party's principle
of expropriation. The Tsar again invited
the leader of the Octobrists to form a Ministry,
and Shipoff again insisted on including the
Cadets. But the Cadets refused to join a
Coalition Ministry. It was now a choice
between Miliukofif and a dissolution. The
Tsar chose the latter, appointed Stolypin
Premier, and broke up the Duma after a
session of three months. The Cadets and
Labour leaders hurried across the Finnish
frontier to Viborg, whence they issued a
Manifesto calling on the nation neither to
pay taxes nor grant recruits till the Duma
was restored.

The Viborg Manifesto was a blunder, and
Stolypin set to work with great energy to
strengthen the position of the Government.
Field courts-martial were instituted to punish
terrorists and suspects. Tens of thousands
were banished without trial, and the prisons
were crowded. Yet, despite wholesale in-
timidation, the elections to the second Duma,
held early in 1907, gave almost the same

RUSSIA 117

result as in the first. The Cadets again
dominated the assembly ; but this time their
main endeavour was to avoid a pretext for
dissolution. The defensive policy succeeded
no better than the offensive. The Socialists
were charged with conspiracy, and Stolypin
demanded their exclusion. The Duma
appointed a Committee to examine the
evidence ; but without waiting for the report
the Government dissolved the assembly.

Reaction now ruled unchecked. The
Socialists were tried behind closed doors
and sent to Siberia. The signatories of
the Viborg Manifesto were sentenced to im-
prisonment. Hundreds were executed for
offences committed two or three years before,
and scoundrels convicted of organising
pogroms were pardoned by the Tsar. On
the other side, murders of officials and police
were of constant occurrence. A restricted
franchise had been announced after the dis-
solution of the second Duma, and the elections
for the third were held in the autumn. The
new House was chiefly composed of land-
owners. The largest party was the Octo-
brists, whose leader, Guchkofi, dominated
the third Duma as Miliukoff had dominated
its predecessors. Stolypin had at last pro-
cured the tame assembly that he sought ;
but even the third Duma was better than
none. The record crops of 1909 and 1910

118 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

at last balanced the budget and gave new
confidence to agriculture. The main legisla-
tive effort of Stolypin has been to enable
the peasantry to become owners of their
land. In 1906 the Premier issued decrees,
which after prolonged discussion were em-
bodied in a statute in 1910. The law gives
the peasant the right to claim his holding in
individual possession and in a single plot, and
empowers the Commune to substitute private
for communal ownership. The ultimate effect
of this far-reaching change, which shatters
the structure of rural life, it is too early to
predict. But the Mir has received its death-
blow.

In addition to the internal movement for
reform the Government has been increasingly
occupied with the outlying nationalities.
On the transference of Finland from Sweden
in 1809 Alexander I solemnly guaranteed
its constitutional rights, which have been
confirmed by his successors. Affairs of State
were controlled by the Diet and Senate. The
conditions of military service were light, and
the army remained within the limits of the
country. While Russia was sunk in bar-
barism and misery, Finland presented a
spectacle of liberty, culture, and prosperity.
Towards the end of the reign of Alexander III
encroachments began to be made ; and with
the appointment of Bobrikoff as Governor-

RUSSIA 119

General in 1898 a systematic attack began.
In 1899 the Diet was invited to make Finland
a military district of Russia. The Finns,
while agreeing to increase the army, re-
jected the proposal to merge it ; but the
change was none the less carried through
by Kuropatkin, the Minister of War. In
the same year it was announced that Finnish
Bills need only be submitted to the Diet if
they concerned Finland alone. The postal
system was amalgamated with that of Russia,
the censorship was tightened, and Russian
police were introduced. These steps were at
first met by passive resistance ; but in 1904
Bobrikoff was assassinated. When a national
strike broke out in 1905 the Tsar promised
to restore Finnish liberties and to grant
universal suffrage. The new Diet met in
1907, but was dissolved in 1908. Stolypin
issued an ordinance transferring the control
of all matters which concerned the whole
Empire to the Russian Ministry and abrogat-
ing the right of the Secretary for Finland to
report to the Tsar. By these and further
measures passed in 1910 the independence of
the Grand Duchy has been imperilled. Finns
and Swedes, Conservatives and Socialists, are
united in defence of constitutional rights
which have been pronounced indefeasible by
the leading jurists of Europe.

The attack on Polish autonomy began

120 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

after the insurrection of 1863, and the whole
country was ruthlessly Russianised. Social-
ism arose with the great industrial develop-
ment of the last two decades of the century,
and for a time there was talk of an armed
rising ; but from 1901 the leading parties
have combined in an attempt to obtain such
a measure of autonomy as Galicia has
long enjoyed. In the first two Dumas the
Poles worked with the Cadets and the Labour
group. But though reformers of all schools
urged the importance of a contented Poland,
pacification is still far off. The Baltic pro-
vinces have been subjected in like manner
to the steam-roller policy. In 1885 Russian
became the official language. The names of
places were changed, German has been for-
bidden in the schools and in the University
of Dorpat, Lutheranism has been frowned
on, local self-government swept away, and
the press placed under Russian censorship.
Yet concerted opposition was impossible,
as the nobles and commercial class are
German, while the peasantry are Letts.
When the years of confusion began in 1905,
the Letts struck at the German landowners
no less than at the Russian Government ;
but the movement was drowned in blood.
Nicholas has proved himself as incompetent
to conciliate the outlying races as to content
his Russian subjects.

THE NEAR EAST 121

II

The Treaty of Berlin, while diminishing the
possessions of the Sultan in the Balkan
peninsula, left abundant material for future
disturbance ; and the history of the years
that have followed is the record of the attempts
of his Christian subjects to complete their
emancipation. The first step was taken in
1885. Though the Treaty of San Stefano
had given Bulgaria the major part of Mace-
donia, the Berlin Congress confined her to
the north of the Balkan Mountains, and re-
placed Eastern Roumelia under the Sultan,
endowing it with a Constitution and a
Governor-General. But the desire for union
was too strong for treaties. The Governor-
General was seized, and Prince Alexander
of Battenberg marched south to Philippopolis.
The Sultan loudly protested, and the Tsar
recalled his officers ; but when Salisbury
approved the union the danger of war passed
away. The bloodless triumph of Bulgaria
whetted the appetite of Servia. Prince
Milan, of the house of Obrenovich, assumed
the royal title in 1882 ; but the King was
unpopular, while the Karageorgevich Pre-
tender was waiting his opportunity. In the
hope of strengthening his throne, Milan
declared war against Bulgaria. The Bul-
garian army was weakened by the with-

122 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

drawal of its Russian officers ; but Alexander
led his troops to victory at Slivnitsa. When
the road to Belgrade lay open, Austria
stopped his advance by an ultimatum. The
struggle was over in a fortnight.

Bulgaria had won a province and a battle ;
but her ruler paid dearly for his triumphs.
Some pro-Russian officers forced their way
into the palace at night, compelled the Prince
to abdicate and hurried him over the bor-
der into Russian territory. A Provisional
Government was formed ; but Stambuloff,
the leader of the anti-Russian army, appealed
to national sentiment, dissolved the Govern-
ment, and invited the Prince to return. A
fortnight later Alexander, who had been
released by order of the Tsar, re-entered Sofia ;
but he had lost his nerve. He telegraphed a
submissive message to St. Petersburg, and, on
the arrival of an unfriendly reply, abdicated
and left the country for ever. For six months
the throne was in the market ; and when
Ferdinand, a younger son of the Prince of
Saxe-Coburg and a grandson of Louis Philippe,
was chosen, the Tsar refused to recognise him.
The new Prince, though lacking the militar}^
instincts and popular gifts of his predecessor,
was an able diplomatist ; but the real ruler of
Bulgaria was Stambuloff, the most command-
ing personality that the young Balkan States
have produced. Though his policy was gener-

THE NEAR EAST 123

ally supported by the country, the Prince
regarded it with less favour. His marriage
in 1893 and the birth of an heir increased his
desire for Russian recognition. Stambuloff
was forced to resign, and in 1895 he was
murdered in the streets of Sofia. In 1896
the baby Prince Boris was converted to the
Greek Church, and Ferdinand was recognised
at St. Petersburg.

While Bulgaria was growing in strength and
prosperity, Servia was condemned to witness
a series of unedifying quarrels in the royal
family. The King and Queen had married
for love as boy and girl ; but Milan's affections
were quickly transferred to other ladies.
Further, the King leaned to Austria, w^hile
Natalie was a Russian. Milan obtained a
divorce in 1889, and immediately afterwards
abdicated in favour of his only son, Alexander,
a lad of thirteen. Four years later the
young King suddenly proclaimed himself of
age, and abolished the democratic constitution
granted by his father in 1889. Though Milan
returned to Belgrade as Commander-in-Chief
and Natalie occasionally visited her son,
Alexander followed his own counsel, and in
1900 married Draga Mashin, a woman of
humble birth and doubtful character. No
children were born, and the Queen was sus-
pected of plotting to secure the succession
for one of her brothers. To stem the tide of

124 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

discontent the King granted a more liberal
Constitution in 1901, but in 1903 he withdrew
it. Two months later the royal couple were
brutally murdered in their palace by officers led
by Colonel Mashin, brother of Draga's first
husband. As Milan had died in 1901 and the
direct Obrenovich line was extinct, Peter
Karageorgevich, who had spent his life in
exile, ascended the throne without opposition.
The new King was boycotted by most of the
Powers till 1906, when the chief murderers
retired. Commerce was gravely prejudiced
by a tariff war with Austria, and the Crown
Prince George kept the country in a ferment
till he was persuaded to resign the succession.
For several years after the Treaty of Berlin
the career of Turkey was uneventful. Abdul
Hamid had gathered the reins of government
into his own hand, obscurantism brooded
over the land, and the finances sank into ever
deeper confusion. The chief sufferers were
the Christians of Asia Minor and Macedonia.
The Armenians had petitioned the Congress of
Berlin for a Christian Governor, but had
obtained nothing more than a promise of
reforms. The reforms remained a dead
letter, and in 1894 the savage Kurds, aided
by Turkish troops, butchered thousands of all
ages. The Powers compelled the Sultan to
grant a Commission of Inquiry, and presented
a scheme of reform which was readily accepted.

THE NEAR EAST 125

While these futile proceedings were taking
place, massacres broke out again in the
autumn of 1895. In the following year a
band of desperate Armenians seized the
Ottoman Bank in Constantinople. The
Sultan now threw aside all concealment, and
for two days they were slaughtered by
thousands in the streets of the capital. A
shudder ran through Europe ; but the Powers
were disunited, and the Great Assassin
remained unpunished.

Meanwhile attention was attracted to
another part of the Sultan's dominions. The
Constitution granted to Crete in 1868 had been
supplemented by the Pact of Halepa in 1878,
The new Charter worked fairly well under Greek
Governors till 1889, when a revolt caused the
Sultan to limit the powers of the Assembly
and to appoint a Mussulman. Disturbances
continued, and in 1895 a Christian Governor
was again selected. The Mussulman minority
showed their resentment by attacks on the
Christians. In February 1897 the Christians
proclaimed union with Greece, and Colonel
Vassos w^as sent with a force to occupy the
island in the King's name. The Powers in
vain ordered Greece to withdraw her troops.
The admirals occupied Canea, and when the
insurgents attacked the Turkish troops com-
pelled them to desist by a bombardment.
Though King George had no desire for a

126 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

conflict, armed bands crossed the northern
frontier, and Turkey at once declared war.
The Greek army was utterly unprepared and
badly led, while the Turks had been drilled
by German instructors. The Greek fleet
displayed a masterly inactivity, and when the
troops of the Crown Prince fled from Larissa,
the Athenian populace threatened the palace.
The Powers intervened, an armistice was
arranged, and the troops returned from Crete.
The treaty of peace restored Thessaly to
Greece with the exception of some strategic
positions, but imposed an indemnity of four
millions with European control of her debt.

Though Greece was ignominiously defeated
Turkish rule in Crete was not restored. In
1898 a wholesale massacre of Christians
occurred, British subjects were attacked in
the harbour of Candia and the vice-consul
was inurdered. The British admiral at once
bombarded the town, and insisted on the
removal of the Turkish troops. The Sultan
yielded, and in a few weeks a solitary Turkish
flag betokened his suzerainty. Prince George
of Greece was appointed for three years as
High Commissioner of the Powers, a con-
stitution was drawn up, and for some years
the island enjoyed peace. In 1904 the
Christians began to quarrel among them-
selves, and Venezelos, the leader of the
Opposition, took to the mountains and pro-

THE NEAR EAST 127

claimed union with Greece. The winter
cold compelled him to surrender, but in
1906 Prince George resigned his post in
disgust, his place being taken by Zaimis,
an experienced Greek politician.

After the loss of Crete the Sultan was
confronted by a still more difficult problem
in Macedonia, which, like Armenia, had
never obtained the reforms guaranteed by
the Treaty of Berlin. The sorely tried
Christians looked to the surrounding States
for sympathy and support. Greece, Bul-
garia, and Servia responded by a vigorous
racial propaganda, while Roumania interested
herself in the Vlachs. The feuds were com-
plicated by difference of religious allegiance.
For centuries the Balkan Christians had
looked to the Greek Patriarch at Constanti-
nople ; but in 1870 the Sultan had created
a Bulgarian Exarch, and Patriarchists and
Exarchists have ever since fought the battle
of Greek and Bulgarian claims in Mace-
donia.

In 1899 the Macedonian Committee at
Sofia appealed to the Powers to create an
autonomous Macedonia under a Bulgarian
Governor-General, and shortly after Bulgarian
bands crossed the frontier. Greece and
Servia followed suit, and the ravages of
roving bands were added to the torments of
Turkish misrule. Austria and Russia drew

128 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

up a scheme of reform in February 1903,
providing for an Inspector-General and the
reorganisation of the gendarmerie b)'' foreign
officers. The Sultan accepted the scheme ;
but the disorder increased, and the Bulgarian
bands organised a fruitless insurrection. In
the autumn the Emperors drew up a re-
vised edition of their programme. The two
Powers attached Civil Agents to Hilmi, the
Inspector - General, the gendarmerie was
placed under the command of an Italian
General, and the greater part of IMacedonia
was divided up into sections under the super-
vision of officers of all the Great Powers
except Germany. But the elaborate machin-
ery was useless, as the foreign officials and
officers possessed no executive power. In
1905 the Sultan was compelled by a naval
demonstration to permit the establishment
of a Financial Commission ; but the ravages
of the bands continued.

In July 1908 the situation in the Near
East suddenly underwent a dramatic trans-
formation. The Young Turks, who had
long preached reform from London and
Paris, had been recently working at terrible
risk among the troops. On the one hand,
they pointed to the intolerable corruption
and tyranny of the Sultan's regime ; on
the other, they declared that the anarchy
of Macedonia must inevitably lead to further

THE NEAR EAST 129

intervention, culminating in the partition
of Turkey. The propaganda had been
carried far and wide before the Sultan
heard of it ; and when he prepared to
strike the leaders proclaimed the Constitu-
tion of 1876 and threatened to march on
Constantinople. The Sultan yielded in panic,
the warring races and churches joined in
celebrating the downfall of their common
enemy, and a Parliament modelled on that
of Midhat met in the autumn.

The honeymoon was brief, and the first
shock came from abroad. In October, Prince
Ferdinand of Bulgaria threw off the over-
lordship of Turkey, and Austria-Hungary
annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina. The
Young Turks, indignant though they were,
bowed to the inevitable and accepted a
financial indemnity from both Powers. A
more serious danger revealed itself during
the winter in divisions among the enemies
of the old regime. The Committee of Union
and Progress, which had organised the re-
volution and directed the new Government
from Salonika, irritated the nationalities by
a rigorous policy of centralisation. The
quarrels of the reformers were the Sultan's
opportunity. In April 1909 a revolution
broke out in Constantinople, and the Young
Turks fled for their lives. But the Mace-
donian troops remained loyal to the Con-

E

180 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

stitution, and within a fortnight Shevket
Pasha fought his way into the capital. Abdul
Hamid was deposed, and his brother was
brought forth from his gilded cage to fill the
Ottoman throne. The victory of the Young
Turks was decisive ; but the warning was
thrown away. Large sums were spent on
the army and navy, the inhabitants of
Macedonia roughly disarmed, and Albania
goaded into revolt. The authors of a hideous
massacre of Armenians at Adana remained
virtually unpunished. Though they have
proved themselves more efficient rulers than
Abdul Hamid, the Young Turks have dis-
appointed the hopes once inspired by their
bravery and moderation. Their ideal is
rather that of a highly centralised military
State than a reforming regime inviting the
co-operation of diverse creeds and races.

When Ferdinand and Francis Joseph tore
up the Treaty of Berlin, Crete followed suit
by proclaiming union with Greece. Though
King George refused to respond, he earned
no gratitude at Constantinople. A boycott
of Greek goods was organised, and Turkish
chauvinism brought the countries to the
verge of war. The failure to extract advan-
tages for Greece led to a movement for
national reorganisation, headed by the army.
For months the dynasty was in danger and
Athens was dominated by the Military League,

THE NEAR EAST 181

which only dissolved on the meeting of a
National Assembly at the end of 1910. The
arrival of Venezelos from Crete has given
Greece the guidance of the first strong and
statesmanlike hand she has felt since the
death of Tricoupis.

Happy are the Balkan States that have
no history. Roumania has made progress
under her Hohenzollern ruler, King Charles,
and his gifted wife, Carmen Sylva, interrupted
only by outbursts of agrarian discontent.
Montenegro, the home of warriors, can also
look back on a generation of unbroken peace
under the patriarchal sway of Nicholas, who
granted parliamentary institutions in 1905
and celebrated the jubilee of his reign in
1910 by assuming the royal title.

E 2

CHAPTER VI

THE BALANCE OF POWER

The present grouping of the Great Powers
is mainly the result of the Franco-German
War. So long as Bismarck was at the helm
Europe was dominated by the newly founded
Empire ; but the last two decades have wit-
nessed a gradual return to the equilibrium
which is the normal condition of European
politics.

Throughout the conflict of 1870 Bismarck
was tortured by the fear of a coalition ; and
when France was beaten the task of his life
was to keep her in quarantine. Even before
the war was over he aimed at an alliance
with Russia and Austria. Alexander II was
the nephew of the Emperor William, and the
relations of the two Courts were cordial.
When the struggle began Bismarck secretly
encouraged Russia to tear up the restrictions
on her right to keep warships in the Black
Sea. An alliance with Austria might seem
less easy to accomplish ; but it was not
impossible. Bismarck had insisted on taking

THE BALANCE OF POWER 133

no territory from the conquered party in
1866. Though Napoleon III expected Aus-
trian assistance in his time of need, Francis
Joseph stood aside, chiefly owing to a fear
that Russia might also join in the fray.
The anti-Prussian Beust was dismissed in
1871, and in 1872 the three Emperors met at
Berlin. No written agreement was con-
cluded, but it was decided to consult each
other in international affairs.

Bismarck supported the Republic in France
on the double ground that it would be weaker
and less likely to attract allies than a mon-
archy ; but when she increased her army in
1875, Moltke demanded a second war. France
appealed to Russia, the Tsar and Gortschakoff
hastened to Berlin, and Queen Victoria
wrote to the Emperor William. The danger
was averted ; but the intervention of Russia
left an unpleasant impression on Bismarck's
mind. When Austria and Great Britain
declared that the settlement of the Near
East after the Russo-Turkish War was a
matter for Europe as a whole, Bismarck
offered himself as an " honest broker " and
presided over the Congress of Berlin not as
a friend of Russia but as an arbiter. Big
Bulgaria, in which Russian influence would
be supreme, was vetoed, while Austria, which
had taken no part in the struggle, was pre-
sented with Bosnia and Herzegovina. The

184 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

pride of Gortschakoff and his master, who
expected some return for their benevolent
neutrality in 1870, was deeply wounded.
Katkoff denounced Bismarck in the Moscow
Gazette, and the massing of Russian troops
on the German frontier seemed to bring war
within sight. William tried to soothe his
nephew by an interview ; but Bismarck went
to Vienna and brought home a treaty, the
assent of the Emperor being secured by a
threat of resignation. The Dual Alliance
concluded in 1879, but not published till 1888,
bound the signatories to support each other
if attacked by Russia. If one was attacked
by any other Power, the other should remain
neutral ; but if the enemy were supported
by Russia, the other was bound to assist.
The alliance was welcomed in both countries
as a complete safeguard against a Russian
attack, and Germany was secured against a
Franco-Russian onslaught. The pact closed
the chapter of strife and estrangement between
men of German blood, and healed the wounds
of Sadowa.

The Dual Alliance marks the beginning
of the definite division of Europe into two
camps. Three years later the adhesion of
Italy created the Triple Alliance. Though
Italy had combined with Prussia in 1866 to
attack Austria, her sympathies in 1870 were
with France. But the French Republic in

THE BALANCE OF POWER 135

its early years was governed by men who
resented the loss of the Temporal Power,
and for some years a French ship lay at
Civita Vecchia at the disposal of the Pope,
as a mute protest against the occupation of
Rome. The danger of intervention passed
away when Gambetta repulsed the mon-
archical attack in 1877 ; but another cause
of friction soon appeared. Knowing Italy's
ambitions, Bismarck seized the opportunity
of the Congress of Berlin to suggest to Wad-
dington, the French representative, the
occupation of Tunis. A similar encourage-
ment came from Great Britain as the price
of French acquiescence in the acquisition of
Cyprus. Backed by these sponsors France
established a protectorate in 1881. Italy
seethed with indignation, and if she had
continued to stand alone a war with France
might easily have arisen. An alliance seemed
essential to national security, and she became
the ally of Germany and Austria for five
years. Despite the huge increase of ex-
penditure on armaments that it involved,
the alliance was renewed in 1887 and has
remained to this day.

The formation of the Triple Alliance was
a further step towards Bismarck's ideal of a
friendless France. As England was known
never to enter into alliances, the only Power
to whom the Republic could look was Russia.

136 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

Accordingly Bismarck exerted himself to the
utmost to restore friendly relations with St.
Petersburg. The accession of Alexander III
in 1881 brought to the throne a ruler whose
dislike of Germany was notorious, but whose
love of peace was sincere and whose fear of
revolution amounted to a mania. In 1884
the three Emperors bound themselves for
three years to benevolent neutrality in the
event of any one of them attacking or being
attacked by another Power. Thus at last
France was completely isolated. But in the
following year the union of Eastern Roumelia
with Bulgaria led to differences between
Russia and the Central Powers, and in 1887
the Tsar determined to withdraw from the
entente. Bismarck, however, persuaded him
to renew the bond with Germany for three
years more, doing his best in return to
convince Russia of his goodwill. When a
daughter of the Emperor Frederick desired
in 1888 to marry Alexander of Battenberg,
sometime Prince of Bulgaria, he compelled
the parents under threat of resignation to
break off the match. Yet the Tsar remained
convinced that Germany could not be relied
upon, and before the expiry of the three
years for which the " reinsurance treaty "
held good he had resolved not to renew it.

The fall of Bismarck in 1890 was the
signal rather than the cause of a great trans-

THE BALANCE OF POWER 137

formation in European politics. For twenty
years he had kept France in isolation. He
had often declared that since 1870 Germany
was " satiated." William II, on the other
hand, dreamed of territorial expansion, and,
trusting in the Triple Alliance, made no
attempt to renew the treaty with Alexander.
Thus Russia, no longer pressed or bribed by
Germany, was at last free to take the
momentous step to which she had long been
gravitating.

In 1870 the sympathies of the Russian
Government had been with Germany, for
Louis Napoleon's share in the Crimean War
and his championship of Poland in 1863 were
not forgotten. But the German and Russian
peoples have always disliked each other, and
Alexander II had no desire to see Germany
dominate the Continent. The intervention
of 1875 may be regarded as the first step
towards the Franco-Russian alliance. After
the rebuff inflicted by the Treaty of Berlin
many Russian publicists advocated an
alliance ; yet the Tsar was unconvinced, and
Grevy, Gambetta and the majority of French
statesmen were strongly anti-Russian. But
events were stronger than individuals. In
April, 1887, when France and Germany were
brought to the verge of war by the arrest
of Schnaebele, who had crossed the frontier
for a discussion with a German functionary,

138 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

the Tsar sent an autograph letter to the
Emperor, who ordered the instant release
of the prisoner. In 1888 the first Russian
loan was placed on the French market. In
1890 Russian nihilists were arrested in Paris
while engaged in the preparation of bombs,
and the plan of a visit of the French fleet
to Russia was discussed. In 1891 a squadron
visited Cronstadt, and the Tsar listened
bareheaded to the "Marseillaise." Europe
was startled by the enthusiastic welcome,
and Caprivi declared that there must be an
alliance. A month later a treaty was signed
in Paris by Ribot, the Foreign Minister, and
Mohrenheim, the Russian ambassador. In
the following year a military convention
was drawn up, though it was not ratified
till 1894. A Russian squadron visited
Toulon in 1893, and the sailors received an
almost delirious welcome. In 1895 Ribot
spoke of Russia as " our ally " in the Chamber.
In 1896 the new Tsar visited France — ^the
first visit of a crowned head to the Third
Republic — and received an immense ovation.
Finally, in 1897, Faure returned the visit,
and the alliance was at last proclaimed by
the Tsar in the famous words, " nations
amies et alli^es."

Though the terms of the treaty have never
been published there can be no doubt that
Russia is pledged to support her ally in case

THE BALANCE OF POWER 139

of attack by Germany. That a first class
Power should desire an alliance was an
emphatic recognition that France had re-
covered from her defeat. The glaring
differences of political institutions and ideas
were forgotten in the satisfaction of possessing
a powerful friend. On the Russian side the
alliance was hailed as good political business.
Her plans of Asiatic expansion required an
assured position in Europe, and demanded
unlimited capital, which thrifty France was
ready to supply.

The Triple Alliance no longer dominated
Europe without a competitor ; but the old
combination was stronger than the new, for
Great Britain was no friend either of Russia
or of France. She had joined in the Crimean
War and she had torn up the treaty of San
Stefano. She had given moral support to
Bulgaria during the crisis of 1885. She had
watched the Russian advance beyond the
Caspian with unconcealed dislike, and the
two countries had been brought within sight
of war by a frontier incident at Penjdeh in
1885. Aggression on the Pamirs in 1891-2
confirmed the belief that Russia had designs
on India and that a great struggle was
inevitable. The scramble for China which
began in 1897 added a new source of friction,
and the seizure of Port Arthur moved Mr.
Chamberlain to the wrathful exclamation.

140 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

" Who sups with the Devil must have a long
spoon."

With France there was a much older
tradition of hostility, and the era of French
colonial expansion, inaugurated by Jules
Ferry, opened up a boundless vista of con-
troversy. The British Government pro-
tested against the fortification of Bizerta, and
for many years refused to surrender its rights
under the Capitulations in Tunis. A long
series of bickerings occurred in relation to
Nigeria. The transportation of convicts to
New Caledonia was hotly resented by
Australia, whither many escaped, and the
occupation of the New Hebrides was contrary
to repeated declarations. A French attack
on Siam in support of her claims to the Mekong
river brought war within sight. The ruthless
exclusion of British trade from Madagascar
when the island was annexed in 1896 excited
the indignation of the commercial world,
and the dispute about the Newfoundland
fisheries remained unsolved.

Above all, the British occupation of Egypt,
in which France had taken a peculiar interest
since the expedition of Napoleon, provided
a constant source of irritation. For some
years France comforted herself with the
belief that on the restoration of order Britain
would withdraw, in accordance with her
repeated declarations ; but by the irony of

THE BALANCE OF POWER 141

fate the last chance was frustrated by her
own action. In 1887 the Wolff Convention
arranged for evacuation within three years,
subject to the right to re-enter if the interests
of the bondholders were threatened. Yield-
ing to the representations of France Abdul
Hamid refused the conditions. A few years
later it was made clear that no limit to the
occupation was contemplated. In 1895 the
British Government announced that it would
regard an attempt by another Power to occupy
any part of the Nile valley as an unfriendly
act ; and in 1896 the reconquest of the Sudan
was commenced. Despite the Grey declara-
tion, repeated and confirmed by the British
Ambassador in Paris in 1897 and 1898,
Captain Marchand was dispatched from the
French Congo in 1896 to establish a post on
the Upper Nile. He reached Fashoda in
July 1898 ; but after the battle of Omdurman
Kitchener marched south and ordered the
force to retire. The dispute was referred
to Paris. When the French Government
hesitated, British opinion declared itself in
uncompromising tones, and war was only
averted by unconditional surrender. Eng-
land's loudly expressed disgust at the treat-
ment of Dreyfus increased the hostility,
and the Boer War provided France with an
opportunity of retaliation of which she
hastened to avail herself.

142 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

The relations of Great Britain with the
members of the Triple Alliance, on the
other hand, were thoroughly friendly. Her
sympathy with Italy was proverbial, and a
secret understanding was reached in 1887
guaranteeing the status quo in the Mediter-
ranean. With Austria, in like manner, there
was no clash of interest or ambition. With
the leading member of the Alliance she was
closely connected by ties of blood. Bismarck
was friendly and accommodating, and con-
sistently supported the British position on the
Nile, remarking, " In Egypt I am English."
The dispatch of a congratulatory telegram
to Kruger after the repulse of the Jameson
Raid created momentary indignation ; but
allowances were made for the impulsive
temperament of its author, and no one
regarded it as an indication of any deep-
seated hostility. At the outbreak of the Boer
War Mr. Chamberlain pleaded for a new
Triple Alliance between Great Britain, Ger-
many, and the United States, and at the
Lord Mayor's banquet Salisbury declared the
relations of the two countries to be " every-
thing we could desire."

The early years of the twentieth century
witnessed a gradual alteration of the balance
of forces, resulting in the transfer of support
from the Triple to the Dual Alliance. The
three main steps in this momentous trans-

THE BALANCE OF POWER 148

formation were the reconciliation of Italy
with France, of France with England, and of
England with Russia.

The quarrel of France and Italy, which
began with the occupation of Tunis, reached
its most acute stage during the ministries of
Crispi. A tariff war began in 1888, and
incidents constantly occurred which revealed
and intensified ill-feeling. In 1887 the
Italian police violated the archives of the
French Consulate at Florence. In 1888 the
Italian Commander came into conflict with
French subjects at Massowah. In 1891 a
French pilgrim inscribed the words '' Vive
le Roi-Pape " near the tomb of Victor
Emanuel. In 1893 Italian workmen were
killed in a brawl at Aigues-Mortes, and the
Roman mob retaliated by an attack on the
residence of the French Ambassador. In
1894 a number of French journalists were
expelled from Rome. Indeed, the relations
of France with Italy were worse than with
Germany. But there had always been a party
in favour of friendly relations, and after the
fall of Crispi wiser counsels began to prevail.
In 189G Italy recognised the French position
in Tunis. In 1898 a commercial treaty ended
the tariff war, which had impoverished both
countries. In 1901 France announced that
she would not oppose Italian claims in
Tripoli, while Italy promised France a free

144 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

hand in Morocco. In 1903 the King of Italy
paid an official visit to Paris, and the seal was
set to the reconciliation when President
Loubet, despite the thunders of the Vatican,
returned the visit in 1904.

The second step towards the re-grouping
of the Powers was taken in May 1903, when
King Edward VII paid his first official visit
to Paris. Though the anti-Dreyfusards had
fallen from power, and though Delcasse was
more friendly than Hanotaux, France was in
no mood to make advances to her old enemy.
The initiative came from the King himself,
who, unlike his mother, was well known to
be a sincere admirer of the Republic. The
position of Great Britain was no longer what
it had been. So long as she could rely on
the friendliness of the Triple Alliance, the
enmity of France and Russia was not very
dangerous. But German disapproval of the
Boer War had been expressed in a highly
offensive manner ; and though the Emperor
refused to see Kruger and the Boer Generals,
and behaved throughout with scrupulous
correctness, the old cordiality completely
disappeared. At the end of 1901 Mr.
Chamberlain vehemently protested against
German attacks on the British troops, and
recalled certain features of the campaign
of 1870. Biilow replied in the Reichstag that
criticisms of the German army were like

THE BALANCE OF POWER 145

attempts to bite granite. The gulf opened by
the war was widened by the refusal of the
British Government to assist in the project
of the Bagdad railway, and by the obvious
determination of Germany to become a great
naval Power.

King Edward was welcomed in Paris with
respect if not with enthusiasm, and the
return visit paid by President Loubet in July
paved the way for a further interchange
of ideas. Before the war Mr. Chamber-
lain had complained of a policy of pinpricks,
and rudely warned France to mend her
manners. The countries were still at issue
on several points ; but the elements of a
bargain were present. The withdrawal from
Fashoda left France nothing to fight for on
the Nile, while Great Britain possessed no
special interests in Morocco, to which France
had long been turning her eyes. On these
foundations a treaty was framed, France
surrendering all claims to Egypt and under-
taking not to press for the termination of
the occupation. Great Britain according
France a free hand in Morocco. Minor
disputes regarding West Africa, Siam, the
New Hebrides, Madagascar, and Newfound-
land were amicably arranged. The treaty,
which was signed in April 1904, was wel-
comed in both countries not only as a settle-
ment of long-standing differences but as

146 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

paving the way for friendly co-operatior.
For the one it ended a period of pohtical
isolation which was becoming dangerous.
To the other it brought an accession of
security only second in importance to the
Russian alliance. That Great Britain shortly
after undertook to render assistance to
France if attacked by Germany is widely
believed in spite of official denials.

France had gained new friends, and she
was soon to need them. On the eve of the
signature of the treaty, Delcasse informed
the German Ambassador in Paris of its
terms, and Prince Radolin pronounced it
to be " very natural and perfectly justified."
On its publication Biilow declared in the
Reichstag that there was no reason to suppose
it to be directed against any Power, and
that it contained nothing prejudicial to
German interests in Morocco, which were
purely commercial. After such declarations
the French Government had no hesitation
in taking the next step forward. In October
an agreement was signed with Spain, whom Del-
casse thus associated with his plans of pacific
penetration. As Morocco adjoined Algeria,
frontier incidents were of common occurrence.
Abdul-Aziz, who had ascended the throne
in 1894 at the age of sixteen, was intelligent
enough to admire the outward trappings
of European civilisation but not to assimilate

THE BALANCE OF POWER 147

its spirit. His love of foreign inventions
irritated his people, and in his nerveless
grasp the kingdom fell into chaos. Agree-
ments with France in 1901 and 1902 pro-
vided for co-operation in the maintenance
of order; but the whole comitry needed
reorganisation, and in 1904 he was presented
with a bold scheme of reforms to be carried
out by the aid of French loans.

The first hint of trouble came from the
German Minister in Morocco in the early
weeks of 1905 ; and diplomatic war was
declared in March when the Emperor landed
from his yacht at Tangier, and announced
that the Sultan was free and independent,
that it would be unwise to hurry reform,
and that German interests would be safe-
guarded. This unexpected outburst, which
virtually promised support to Morocco in
resisting French pressure, was followed by an
invitation to a Conference on the Moroccan
question. The proposal was a direct challenge
to French claims, and Delcasse advised its
rejection. The Rouvier Cabinet refused to
run risks, and the Foreign Minister, who had
held the reigns for seven years, was forced
to resign. His fall was a triumph for Ger-
many, and was marked by the elevation of
Billow to the rank of Prince.

The resignation of Delcasse was a second
Fashoda. French resentment was the keener

148 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

owing to the conviction that Germany had
taken advantage of the temporary paralysis
of her alh^ The attack on French policy
began on the fall of Port Arthur, and the
Tangier speech was delivered after the re-
verses in Manchuria. It was believed, more-
over, that Morocco was only the occasion
to strike at the entente into which she had
lately entered. A revulsion of feeling set
in, and large sums were spent on preparing
the army for instant war. In August the
Treaty of Portsmouth allowed Russia to
resume her part in European politics. Thus,
when the Conference met at Algeciras in
January 1906, France was in no yielding
mood. Throughout the prolonged discus-
sions she was backed by Russia and Great
Britain, while Italy incurred German resent-
ment by her obvious friendliness. The United
States supported her on the merits of the
case, and even Austria showed a disposition
to arrive at a fair compromise. Thus while
the submission of the Moroccan question
to the European areopagus was a triumph
for Germany, the Conference itself dis-
appointed her. Though the integrity of
Morocco was secured, France and Spain
obtained a mandate to organise a police force
for the coast towns, and France was allowed
a predominant share in the proposed State
bank. In 1908 a dangerous quarrel arising

THE BALANCE OF POWER 14S

out of the arrest of German deserters at
Casablanca was settled by the Hague Tribunal.
Finally, by an agreement in 1909, Germany
recognised the special political interest of
France.

The entente which had grown out of the
Treaty of 1904 had proved itself capable of
resisting strain ; but there was still one more
step to be taken before the position of France
could be regarded as satisfactory. Her ally
and her friend still looked askance at one
another. The Russo-Japanese War had pro-
duced an awkward situation. It had re-
quired all Delcasse's tact to avoid an explosion
when the Russians fired on the Hull fishermen,
while a new danger arose when Japan angrily
charged France with assisting the Russian
fleet during its voyage to the Far East. But
the common support of France during the
critical months at Algeciras brought Great
Britain and Russia nearer together. The
Tsar had begun to discuss the questions at
issue with Sir Charles Hardinge at St. Peters-
burg in 1905, and Sir Edward Grey was
known to have set his heart on an arrange-
ment. After long negotiations a treaty was
signed in August 1907, defining the respective
spheres of influence in Persia, recognising the
right of Great Britain to control the foreign
policy of Afghanistan, and pledging both
parties to abstain from interference in Tibet.

160 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

The Treaty was sharply attacked by one
school of critics on the ground that the line
through Persia was unduly favourable to
Russia, by another on the ground that it
virtually partitioned the country, and that
co-operation with Russia was indefensible.
In reply it was urged that the removal of the
fear of Russian attack on India was worth
some sacrifices, and that the Treaty would
lead to mutual support in European politics.
The visit of King Edward to Reval in June
1908 revealed such cordial relations between
the two Governments that Germany pro-
fessed to discover a design for her isolation.
The entente was further consolidated by
the reconciliation of Russia and France with
Japan on the basis of a recognition of the
status quo in the Far East.

A few months after the Dual Alliance had
expanded into the Triple Entente the waters
of European diplomacy were once more
ruffled. Though Austria and Russia had
agreed in 1897 to work together in the Balkans,
the world was startled in February 1908
by an announcement that the Austro-Hun-
garian Foreign Minister had obtained per-
mission to make a survey for the construction
of a railway through the Sanjak of Novibazar.
To ask or accept such a favour from Turkey
at a time when the only hope of Macedonian
reform lay in unceasing pressure from the

THE BALANCE OF POWER 151

Concert appeared something like treason.
Moreover, it opened the door to the ambitions
of other Balkan Powers, and Servia im-
mediately put forward a demand, which was
supported by Russia, for a railway to the
Adriatic. But before either project could
be commenced, the revolution in Turkey
altered the whole face of affairs.

While sympathetically watching the efforts
of the Young Turks to grapple with their
gigantic problem, Europe was startled by
the news that Bulgaria had thrown off the
suzerainty of Turkey, and that Austria-
Hungary had annexed Bosnia and Herze-
govina, at the same time renouncing her
right to the military occupation of Novibazar.
In a moment the whole of Eastern Europe
was in a ferment. Servia demanded com-
pensation for the destruction of her hopes
of union with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and
Montenegro pressed for the removal of her
fetters on the Adriatic seaboard. Meanwhile
Sir Edward Grey declared that any modifica-
tions of the Treaty of Berlin must be approved
by another European Congress, and Russia
and France supported the demand.

Bulgaria and Austria-Hungary compounded
for their sins by a cash indemnity ; but when
the danger of war with Turkey was removed
D'Aehrenthal could afford to oppose an
unyielding front to the claims of Servia.

152 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

The little kingdom, however, trusted to the
support of its mighty Slav neighbour.
Izvolsky, the Russian Foreign Minister, had
been informed during the early summer that
Austria-Hungary would some day annex the
Turkish provinces ; but the speedy execution
of the plan came as a shock to St. Petersburg.
As the winter advanced Europe became
sharply divided into two camps. The tension
was ended in March 1909 by a peremptory
intimation from the Kaiser to the Tsar that
if his support of Servian claims were to lead
to war with Austria, Germany would support
her ally with all her forces. The opposition
instantly collapsed, and the Powers of the
Triple Entente recognised the annexations
without waiting for a Conference. D'Aeh-
renthal had played a bold game and won ;
but his victory was dearly bought. The
indemnity to Turkey and the much larger
sum spent on preparing the army for instant
war, the surrender of Novibazar, the boycott
of Austrian goods in the Levant, the estrange-
ment of Turkey, Servia, and Montenegro,
above all, the alienation of the Powers of the
Triple Entente, might well appear even to
his countrymen a high price to pay for the
abolition of Turkish suzerainty over provinces
that had for all practical purposes belonged
to the Dual Monarchy for a generation.

The storm subsided very slowly. On

THE BALANCE OF POWER 153

visiting the King of Italy the Tsar ostenta-
tiously avoided passing through Austrian
territory, and a little later William II on a
visit to Vienna reminded his hearers how he
had stood by their ruler " in shining armour "
in the recent crisis. But there are no eternal
feuds in European politics except between
France and Germany. The old cordiality
between Great Britain and Austria gradually
returned, and the withdrawal of Izvolsky to
the Paris Embassy marked a ditente between
Vienna and St. Petersburg. When the Tsar
visited Potsdam at the close of 1910, Germany
undertook to facilitate the plans of Russia
in Persia, and Russia withdrew her opposition
to the Bagdad railway, which it was agreed
to extend to the Persian frontier. Though
it was an exaggeration to assert that the
Potsdam interviews marked the virtual with-
drawal of Russia from the Triple Entente,
they recorded the closing of the breach which
had been opened in 1908.

The mutual suspicion of Germany and
Great Britain remains ; but it is gradually
becoming less acute. If the German ship-
building programme is reduced in 1912, as
the Navy Law provides, the apprehension
that she is seeking to steal the mastery of
the seas should disappear. Meanwhile the
agreement of the two Governments, announced
in 1911, to inform each other of their naval

154 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

construction will prevent the recurrence of
the scare that arose in 1909 when the British
Admiralty solemnly announced its discovery
of an imaginary acceleration. More important
is the surrender by the Bagdad Railway
Company of its right to carry the line to
the Persian Gulf in return for permission
to connect it with the Mediterranean. The
compromise removes a troublesome source of
friction and brings within sight the co-opera-
tion or at least the friendly acquiescence of
Great Britain in the completion of the great
enterprise. The sudden dispatch of a cruiser
to Agadir in July 1911 announced the deter-
mination of Germany to be consulted in regard
to the new situation in Morocco arising from the
French expedition to Fez and the Spanish
occupation of posts in the interior ; but it gave
no reason to anticipate a repetition of the
agitating experiences of 1905.

CHAPTER VII

THE AWAKENING OF ASIA

The most important event in the political
history of the last generation is the awaken-
ing of Asia. The reaction on world politics
has already been immense, and its further
influence is the most incalculable element
in the future.

After massacring her Jesuit missionaries in
the seventeenth century, Japan lived a hermit
life till the coming of Commodore Perry's
squadron in 1854 forced her to open her
doors and revise her political ideas. The
last of the Shoguns resigned in 1867, and
the power of the Emperor was restored
after an eclipse of more than two centuries.
The Daimios chivalrously surrendered their
privileges, and the remains of feudalism
were abolished by decree in 1871. Thus in
four years the country was unified under a
centralised government. But the task of

155

156 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

creating a modern State was complicated
by treaty rights, which not only deprived
Japan of all power over foreign residents,
but prevented the raising of the customs
tariff. After vainly endeavouring to obtain
a modification of the treaties the Government
sent an embassy to Europe in 1871. Though
the mission failed, its members carried back
the lessons of civilisation. An efficient army
and navy were created, compulsory educa-
tion inaugurated, and the judicial system
reformed. In 1894 Great Britain recognised
Japan as a civilised State. By 1899 the
other Powers had followed suit, and ex-
territoriality was at an end. For the
first time Europe submitted the fortunes
of her children to the jurisdiction of an
Oriental State.

The modernisation of Japan naturally
carried with it the introduction of representa-
tive institutions, and in 1880 the Emperor
promised a national Parliament. The plan-
ning of a constitution was entrusted to Ito,
who paid a prolonged visit to the West,
where he fell under the spell of Bismarck. In
1885 he became the head of the first Cabinet,
the members of which were appointed
by and responsible to the Emperor. The
first Parliament met in 1890. The constitu-
tion was largely modelled on that of Prussia,
with a narrow franchise (extended in 1900)

THE FAR EAST 157

and an independent executive. The early
years of Parliament were filled by bitter strife
with the ministers and the official class, over
whom the elected House possessed no con-
trol. Opposition and obstruction were met
by repeated dissolutions, and the power of
the Emperor remained undiminished. His
authority has been consistently supported by
the House of Peers, in which the influence
of the Elder Statesmen is predominant. His
person still inspires religious veneration,
while the long and prosperous reign of
Mutsuhito, who ascended the throne while
Japan was still a feudal State, has strengthened
the prestige of the Crown.

The birth of a powerful State in the Far
East was proclaimed in 1894. An attempt
had been made to establish closer relations
with Korea, and a Japanese envoy was sent
to reside at Seoul in 1880. The legation
was attacked in 1882, and again in 1884. The
weakness and misgovernment of Korea was a
perpetual temptation to her neighbours ; and
Japan invited China to co-operate in demand-
ing reform. When China refused, Japan
endeavoured to set the Korean Government
in motion, and, as no response was forth-
coming, issued an ultimatum calling on
Korea to accept the Japanese programme of
reforms in July 1894. Korea temporised,
Seoul was taken without difficulty, and the

168 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

Emperor made prisoner. China immediately
intervened, but was easily defeated by
Japanese troops, which had been trained by
European officers. The capture of Port
Arthur compelled Li Hung Chang to ask for
peace, and on the fall of Wei-hai-Wei the
war was over. In April 1895 a treaty was
signed at Shimonoseki, by which China
ceded to Japan the Liao-Tung peninsula
and the island of Formosa, and promised a
large indemnity.

The ink of the treaty was hardly dry
when Russia, France, and Germany ordered
Japan to surrender the Liao-Tung peninsula,
on the ground that the possession of Port
Arthur threatened the independence of Pekin.
Japan had no alternative but to submit,
and the Chinese indemnity was increased
by five millions. The intervention of the
Western Powers opened a new chapter in the
history of the Far East. Russia had reached
the Pacific in the seventeenth century, and
the Amur region was secured in 1858-60 by
Muravief. The trans-Siberian railway was
begun in 1891. After saving China from the
loss of the peninsula, Russia concluded a
convention with her authorising a branch
line through Manchuria. But the insin-
cerity of the Powers in forbidding Japanese
spoliation was soon revealed. In 1897, when
two German missionaries were murdered in

THE FAR EAST 159

Shantung, China was compelled to lease the
port and district of Kiao-Chow to Germany
for 99 years. Russia followed suit by ob-
taining permission to winter her fleet in
Port Arthur, and in March 1898 demanded
a lease of the coveted ice-free port. Great
Britain, not to be outdone, acquired Wei-hai-
Wei, and an extension of her territory op-
posite Hong-Kong. France obtained a con-
cession near Tonkin ; but when even Italy
asked for a bay China plucked up courage
to refuse.

The encroachments of the Powers evoked
intense indignation in China, and killed the
reform movement which had begun after
the Japanese war. The only satisfactory
piece of imperial machinery was the adminis-
tration of the maritime customs by Sir
Robert Hart. The young Emperor, Kuang-
Hsu, was convinced of the need of change,
and adopted the proposals of Kang Yu Wei.
Learning that her nephew had decided on her
imprisonment, and taking advantage of the
growing hatred of the " foreign devils," the
Dowager-Empress, Tzu Hsi, emerged from
her retreat. The Emperor's life was spared
and Kang Yu Wei escaped, but his reforming
colleagues were executed. The Regency was
re-established, the reform decrees were
annulled, and China swung back to reaction.
A society called the Boxers, who claimed to

160 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

be invulnerable, rapidly spread through the
provinces, preaching death to foreigners.
Attacks on Europeans began in 1899, and
became frequent in the early months of 1900.
In May the Ministers at Pekin asked for
additional guards. No sooner had they
arrived than the city was surrounded by
Boxer troops. An attempt by Admiral
Seymour to reach the capital was frustrated.
The destruction of the Taku forts, which had
fired on the allied warships, was treated as
a declaration of war. The imperial troops
now joined the Boxers, the German Am-
bassador was murdered in the streets of
Pekin, and the foreign residents, who had
taken refuge in the British Legation, were
bombarded. Early in August an army of
20,000 men started for Pekin. The capital
was entered after sharp fighting ten days
later, the Empress fled into the interior, and
the Legations were rescued after a terrible
siege of two months. The allies insisted on
the punishment of the ringleaders, the dis-
mantling of the forts between Pekin and
the coast, and immense indemnities. To
prevent a similar occurrence the Legations
were fortified. Peace was signed in 1901,
and the Empress returned early in 1902.

The resentment aroused in Japan by the
forced surrender of Port Arthur swelled into
deep indignation when Russia herself seized

THE FAR EAST 161

the coveted stronghold. A demand for a
port on the southern coast of Korea in 1899
had to be withdrawn ; but after the Pekin
expedition Admiral Alexeieff, the Russian
Viceroy of the Far East, invited China to
resume the government of Manchuria under
Russian protection. Japan protested in
vain ; but her position was strengthened by
an alliance with Great Britain in 1902, the
latter promising support if her ally was
attacked by more than one Power. The
conduct of the Japanese troops during the
Pekin expedition had compared very favour-
ably with that of some of the European
contingents, and the treaty of 1902 recognised
the entry of Japan into the family of civilised
Powers.

A few weeks after the conclusion of the
alliance a treaty was signed between Russia
and China, the former undertaking to evacu-
ate Manchuria in three stages of six months
each, the latter to defend Russian interests in
that province. The treaty relieved Japanese
apprehensions ; and in the autumn of 1902
the Russians withdrew from the first of the
three sections. But in 1903, instead of
continuing the evacuation, Russia demanded
new concessions. Supported by Great
Britain, Japan, and the United States, China
refused the demands. At the same moment
Russian activity increased in Korea. Russian

F

162 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

speculators had obtained a concession to cut
timber on the banks of the Yalu, and
influential members of the Russian Court
were interested in the enterprise. Japan
complained that the withdrawal from
Manchuria was not being carried out, and
suggested a treaty which should safeguard
Russian interests in Manchuria and define
Japan's position in Korea. Russia refused
to recognise Japanese claims in Korea, and
after several months of negotiation, during
which troops were hurried to the Far East,
Japan issued an ultimatum in February 1904.
The course of the conflict was watched
by the whole world with amazement. Few
expected Japan to show such perfect organisa-
tion, such strategic genius, such irresistible
bravery; while on the other hand few were
prepared for the blundering incompetence of
Russia. For the Japanese it was a national
struggle for clearly defined objects, while
the Russian people knew nothing of the
causes and aims of the war. A second
advantage for Japan was that the conflict
ranged in part over ground familiar to her
since 1894, while the Russian front was
6000 miles from the base, and her troops
had to be transported by a single line.
When the war began the Russian forces were
greatly inferior in numbers, and she was
discouraged at the outset by the destruction

THE FAR EAST 163

or damage of several ships at Port Arthur
and Chemulpo. After these initial successes
Japanese troops invested Port Arthur, while
the main army forced their way across the
Yalu. The Russians were defeated at Liao-
Yang, and in a prolonged encounter on the
Sha-ho. On New Year's Day, 1905, Port
Arthur was surrendered by Stossel, though
24,000 men and provisions for three months
remained. The fall of the great fortress set
free the besieging army, and another titanic
struggle took place before Mukden in
February. After a fortnight's fighting, in
which each side lost about 60,000 in killed
and wounded, the Russians retreated north.
The Japanese were too exhausted to follow
up the victory, and both combatants
watched the leisurely voyage of the Russian
fleet from Europe. As it entered the Straits
of Tsushima between Korea and Japan on
the way to Vladivostock on May 27th, it
was annihilated by Togo. The command of
the Pacific was decided in a single day.

The failure of her last card induced Russia
to consider the question of peace. Japan,
whose resources had been strained to the
uttermost, was equally desirous of an honour-
able termination of the struggle. A fortnight
after the battle of Tsushima representatives
were chosen to discuss terms. No armistice
was concluded, and the Japanese landed a
f2

164 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

force in Sakhalin. The negotiations opened
in August, and three weeks later peace was
signed. The Treaty of Portsmouth recog-
nised the claims of Japan in Korea, ceded
the Liao-Tung peninsula and the southern
half of Sakhalin, and provided for the
evacuation of Manchuria by Russia. The
war had cost each side about 100 millions in
money and 200,000 in killed and wounded.
The victory of Japan is the most important
event of the period with which this volume
deals. In the years immediately preceding
the war the Powers had been carving China
into slices. The ringleader had now been
overthrown in single combat, and the achieve-
ment thrilled Asia with a confidence and self-
respect she had never known. The spell had
been broken. The West was not irresistible.
The question is no longer what the white
man will leave to the yellow races, but what
the yellow races will permit the white man
to retain.

In no country was the reverberation louder
than in China. The reactionary nationalism
which had culminated in the Boxer movement
gave place to an enthusiasm for Western
learning and Western methods. Decrees
appeared condemning foot-binding, recom-
mending intermarriage between Manchus and
Chinese, abolishing the system of literary
examinations for official employment, and

THE FAR EAST 165

forbidding torture and mutilation. Railways
were built and schools were opened, Japanese
instructors were engaged, and large numbers
went to study abroad. A Commission was
sent to Europe in 1906 to examine the
systems of government, and on its return the
Regent announced her intention to grant a
Constitution. In 1908 she and the puppet
Emperor died within a day of each other ;
but the death of the most remarkable per-
sonality of modern China brought no change.
Provincial assemblies were set up in 1909,
and conducted their business with dignity
and skill. A National Assembly, composed
chiefly of officials and nominees, met at Pekin
in 1910 and demanded that the first Parlia-
ment, originally promised for 1917, should
meet without delay. Almost more remarkable
as an evidence of reforming zeal is the crusade
against opium. Though depending on the
duty for several millions a year, the Indian
Government undertook in 1907 to stop the
export to China by gradual steps within 10
years, on condition of a corresponding reduc-
tion in her own production of the poppy.
The bargain was loyally kept, and in 1911
China urged the Indian Government to co-
operate in suppressing the traffic in two
years.

166 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

II

While in the Far East the white man has
been forced to abandon his ambitions, he
continues to dominate the Middle East. Yet
here, too, the sleeper is awakening.

Though the Government of India is relat-
ively unaffected by party changes at West-
minster, the personality of a Viceroy often
stamps the period of his rule. Thus Lytton
(1876-1880) emphasised the might and
majesty of British dominion, while Ripon's
term (1880-1884) was marked by a courageous
attempt to associate the people more closely
with the control of their own affairs. His
successor, Dufferin, was identified neither
with Imperialism nor Liberalism. The
establishment of Abdurrahman on the throne
of Afghanistan had substituted a friendly
for an unfriendly influence ; but the rapid
advance of Russia beyond the Caspian con-
tinued to inspire alarm. Though an agree-
ment was reached in 1887, the danger led to
the permanent increase of the army. On
the other side of India an important conquest
was effected. The maritime provinces of
Burma had been annexed in previous wars,
and at the end of 1885 the remainder of the
country was conquered. While the savage
rule of King Theebaw was the nominal pretext
for intervention, the governing factor was

INDIA AND PERSIA 167

the discovery of his intrigues with French
agents and concessionaires. No immediate
resistance was made, but a guerrilla warfare
broke out and continued for three years.
On its suppression Burma entered on a period
of peaceful prosperity, untroubled by famines
or revolutionary movements.

The main legislative achievement of
Dufferin's term was the Bengal Tenancy Act
of 1885, which checked the eviction of the
ryot; but its most important event was not
the work of the Government. The intro-
duction of English literature and English
ideas under the auspices of Macaulay had led
to the growth of an educated class, relatively
small in numbers but of considerable influ-
ence. In 1886 the first National Congress met
to discuss questions of common interest.
Though a few Mohammedans took part in
the movement, its founders were Hindus.
Dufferin regarded the Congress as a healthy
growth, and showed friendliness to the leaders
It was a colossal blunder that his tactful
attitude was abandoned by his successors.

The term of Lord Lansdowne (1888-1894)
witnessed an important change in the
machinery of government. The Queen's
Proclamation in 1858 declared that no one
should be debarred from any office by ace
or creed. A few Indian advisers had been
admitted to Legislative Councils after the

168 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

Mutiny ; but Dufferin had informed the Home
Government that an increase in their numbers
and powers would be expedient. The Indian
Councils Act of 1892 gave cautious effect to
his representations. The nominated members
of the Viceregal and the Provincial Councils
were increased, the non-ofiicial element
strengthened, and the Indian Government
was empowered to permit native members to
be elected by their fellow-citizens. In another
field the confidence of the Government was
shown by accepting the offers of Native Chiefs
to maintain regiments for imperial service.
The Landsowne Viceroyalty also witnessed
the settlement of differences with Abdur-
rahman, who was seriously alarmed by the
proposals of the Forward Policy. The Durand
mission, dispatched to Cabul in 1893, re-
moved his apprehensions. His subsidy was
raised from £80,000 to £120,000 a year, and
it was agreed to determine the still unsettled
boundaries of Russia, India, and Afghanistan.
Though his loyalty during subsequent frontier
risings was open to suspicion, the relations of
the Governments have remained friendly.

The rule of Lord Elgin (1894-1899) was a
period of exceptional anxiety. The currency
question had long been menacing. Owing to
the increasing production of silver through-
out the world the rupee had rapidly fallen
since 1874, when it was worth nearly two

INDIA AND PERSIA 169

shillings. The loss to India, which had to
find large sums in gold for interest, pensions,
and foreign purchases, was serious. To meet
the growing burden it was necessary to increase
the salt tax and the income tax, and in
1893 the coinage of silver was restricted.
The relief was slight, and Lord Elgin, on
his arrival, had to revive revenue duties,
that on cotton goods being accompanied
by a corresponding excise on Indian pro-
ducts. The rupee fell to thirteen pence in
1895, when it again began to rise. In 1899
a gold currency was introduced, and the
value of the rupee was fixed at sixteen pence.
Though gold thus became the standard of value,
silver remains the coinage of the country
and legal tender at the fixed rate. At the
same time two other problems emerged.
In 1896 plague appeared in Bombay, and
efforts to eradicate it led to riots and fierce
attacks in the press. Its ravages have
continued ever since, and it carries off
enormous numbers every year. In 1897
a severe famine visited Central India, and
despite the institution of gigantic relief works
nearly a million lives were lost in British
territory.

Like his predecessors. Lord Elgin was con-
fronted with grave anxieties on the North- West
frontier. By the Durand agreement Chitral
was declared within the British sphere In

170 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

1895 the native ruler was murdered and the
British agent and garrison were besieged.
After a heroic defence of seven weeks "the
fort was reheved by a large British force.
The Rosebery Government decided to with-
draw from Chitral ; but Salisbury, on resum-
ing office, determined to retain it, and ordered
the construction of a road through the
mountains. A year later the whole frontier
was in flames, the Mullahs preaching a holy
war, and the tribesmen watching with anger
the extension of the British zone. A rising
began in 1897 among the Swats, Mohmands,
and Afridis, and the insurrection became
so formidable that an army of 60,000 men
was despatched to the Tirah district. By
the end of the year the resistance was broken,
but it was not till late in 1898 that the con-
flict was over and the Khyber Pass re-
opened.

While some Viceroys are mere figure-
heads. Lord Curzon, who arrived in 1899,
was the undisputed ruler of India. His first
task was the liquidation of the frontier
problem. The British forces were gradually
withdrawn from the Khyber and other
advanced posts, and their places taken by
tribal levies, the tribes being informed that
their independence was safe so long as order
was maintained. A new frontier province
was created by separation from the Punjab

INDIA AND PERSIA 171

in 1901, a step that has been followed by
almost uninterrupted peace. In domestic
affairs the Viceroyalty opened badly with a
renewal of famine in 1900, more costly in
life and money than that of 1897. But
after its conclusion the financial situation
rapidly improved, and the salt tax was
greatly reduced. The ship appeared to be
entering calmer water, and the opportunity
was seized to overhaul every department of
State by searching commissions of inquiry.
An attempt was made to bring the system of
report writing within reasonable limits. A
new Department of Commerce and Industry
was established, with a representative on
the Viceroy's Council. On the advice of
Lord Kitchener, the Commander-in-Chief, the
distribution of the army was changed and
the troops furnished with more efficient
weapons. A drastic measure was carried
to prevent the alienation of land in the
Punjab. The severe condemnation of the
police by the Frazer Commission led to a
slight increase of pay, but not to the radical
reforms that were needed. Steps were taken
for the conservation of the priceless monu-
ments of Indian art. Primary schools were
increased, and an effort was made to save
older students from the moral contagion
of city life.
Lord Curzon laboured with unflagging

172 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

energy and superb devotion ; but his method
of government resembled that of the Philo-
sophic Despots of the eighteenth century.
Though he sternly punished the ill-treatment
of Indians by Europeans, he had little sym-
pathy with the political aspirations that
were stirring among educated natives. He
boycotted the National Congress, diminished
the representative element on the Calcutta
Municipal Council, and infuriated the Bengalis
by reflections on their truthfulness. Finally,
on his return from England in 1904, he took
a step which led directly to the dangerous
crisis of the following years. Bengal had
already thrown off the North- West Provinces
and Assam, and a population of over 80
millions made a further partition desirable.
Friendly discussions with the leaders of
native opinion might have led to an accept-
able compromise ; but the opportunity of
readjustment by consent was thrown away.
A new province was created in 1905 by a
fusion of Assam with a large slice of Eastern
Bengal, despite the passionate protests of
the Congress party. If it was not the greatest
political blunder since the Mutiny, it played
directly into the hands of the extreme party
which aims at the overthrow of British
rule.

The last year of Lord Curzon's term
witnessed the dispatch of an expedition to

INDIA AND PERSIA 173

Lhassa. The Hermit Kingdom had steadily
repulsed the advances made to it since the
time of Warren Hastings. When Tibetan
troops invaded the Protected State of
Sikkim in 1886, the Government opened
negotiations with China as suzerain of Tibet,
and signed a treaty in 1890 establishing
commercial posts across the frontier. The
Tibetans, however, refused all intercourse
and returned letters unopened. Such con-
temptuous treatment seemed to Lord Curzon
damaging to British prestige ; and when the
Dalai Lama engaged in negotiations with
Russia he obtained leave to send an armed
mission under Colonel Younghusband. The
advance was but feebly resisted. The sacred
city was entered, the Dalai Lama fled, and
a treaty was made with his successor, pro-
viding for a Resident in Lhassa, facilities
for trade, and the retention of the Chumbi
valley while an indemnity was paid by
instalments. The treaty was substantially
modified by the Home Government. When
it thus became clear that Great Britain had
no desire to intervene in Tibetan affairs the
dormant Chinese suzerainty was vigorously
reasserted. The Power that gained by
the Younghusband expedition was not India,
but China.

In 1905 Lord Curzon resigned, refusing
to accept Lord Kitchener's proposals for the

174 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

reorganisation of the military department,
and receiving no support from home. His
successor, Lord Minto, lacked the knowledge
and ability of his predecessor ; but he felt
genuine sympathy with the ideals of educated
Indians. The appointment of Mr. Morley
to the India Office almost at the same time
further emphasised the change from the old
order. The Viceroy and Secretary of State
were in agreement as to the need both of
generous political concessions and of un-
flinching repression of violence. Great ex-
pectations were aroused among the Congress
politicians by the appointment of the dis-
tinguished thinker from whom they had
learned the principles of Liberalism ; but
his refusal to modify the partition of Bengal
provoked intense disappointment. The
Swadeshi movement began, European goods
were boycotted in parts of Bengal, and
several Europeans were murdered. The
Government replied by drastic laws against
seditious meetings, the press, and the use of
explosives. Tilak was sentenced to six years
imprisonment, and on two occasions the
Regulation of 1818 was revived. The
deportation of men of high character and
position without charge or trial aroused
indignation in England, and led numbers
of Indian politicians to despair of the Govern-
ment. The National Congress split in two

INDIA AND PERSIA 175

at Surat in 1908, the extremists parting
company with the moderates represented by
Gokhale.

While the campaign of repression was in
progress a far-reaching scheme of reform
was being elaborated. A bold step was
taken in 1909 by the appointment of an
Indian barrister as Legal Member of the
Viceroy's Executive Council, and of two
Indians to the Council of the Secretary of
State. The Councils Act of 1909 constituted
a notable advance on that of 1892. A large
addition was made to the membership of the
Viceregal and Provincial Legislative Councils,
an official majority being retained on the
former alone. Special safeguards for the
interests of the Mohammedan minority were
inserted. The Executive Councils of Madras
and Bombay were to be enlarged from two
to four, one to be an Indian, and Executive
Councils were foreshadowed for the other
provinces. Greater latitude was permitted
in regard to criticism and debate. The
reform scheme was welcomed both in India
and England as wise and generous, and a
more hopeful feeling was already manifest
when Lord Minto and Lord Morley laid
down their burden in 1910. Though they
failed to mollify the root and branch op-
ponents of British rule, they opened up a
fruitful field of common activity between the

176 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

bureaucracy and the leaders of native opinion
That Lord Hardinge desired to work the
new system in the spirit of its authors was
quickly shown by his cordial reception of Sir
William Wedderburn, the President of the
National Congress.

The history of Persia during the last
quarter of a century is one of increasing
degradation, followed by a partially successful
attempt at reform. While Nasreddin was a
virile despot, his son Muzaffer-ed-din, who
ascended the throne in 1890, was amiable
and effeminate, squandering his country's
resources in costly journeys to Europe, and
for the first time incurring a foreign debt.
In 1899 the custom houses were placed
under the control of Belgian officials, and
in 1900 and 1902 Russian loans were
negotiated. The gradual mortgaging of the
country to Russia was watched with jealousy
by Great Britain, and with indignation by
the long-suffering Persians. A Constitution
had been demanded during the reign of
Nasreddin by the great Mussulman teacher
Jamaleddin, and in 1891 a passionate outcry
greeted the grant of a Tobacco Monopoly to
an English company. The concession was
revoked at the cost of half a million.

Though occasional riots occurred in the
provinces, there was no further explosion in
Teheran till 1905, when a number of merchants

INDIA AND PERSIA 177

and mullahs took sanctuary in a mosque in
protest against the Grand Vizier. The Shah
promised to dismiss his adviser. The pro-
testers returned, but the Minister remained.
A second Bast occurred in 1906, when about
14,000 citizens took refuge in the grounds of
the British Legation. This time the demand
was for a Parliament, which the Shah re-
luctantly granted. A Constitution was drawn
up, newspapers and political clubs sprang
into life, and the National Assembly met in
October. Muzaffer-ed-din died in 1907, and
his son, Mohammed Ali, who had won a bad
reputation as Governor of Tabriz, quickly
showed his dislike of the Constitution. The
first Budget cut down pensions and sinecures,
and turned the annual deficit into a surplus
without fresh taxation. But the reduction
of the Shah's civil list intensified his hostility
to the Mejliss. He was only prevented from
executing his Ministers by the intervention
of the British charg6 d'affaires, and early
in 1908 an attempt was made on his life.
In June he fled to his Summer Palace,
whence he carried out a coup d'itat with the
aid of Liakhoff, a Russian officer, and the
Cossack Brigade. The Parliament House
was bombarded, Liakhoff was appointed
Military Governor of Teheran, and the
reformers fled for their lives. The Con-
stitutionalists held out in Tabriz during the

178 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

winter, closely invested by the royalist
forces. When the fall of the city became
imminent Russian troops crossed the frontier
to its relief.

When the Constitutional cause had seemed
to be lost its fortunes suddenly brightened.
Russia had shown that the Shah could no
longer hope for her moral support. The
vigorous tribe of the Baktiaris, which had
already declared for the Constitution, now
marched to Teheran, entered the city after
fighting, and compelled the Shah to abdicate.
His youthful son was placed on the throne, the
Mejliss was recalled, and the work of reform
resumed. But the task was difficult and
the actors inexperienced. The presence of
Russian troops in the north prevented out-
breaks, but damaged the prestige of the
Government. In the south the roads were so
insecure that in 1910 Great Britain threatened
to police them by a Persian force led by
officers drawn from the Indian army. Despite
their urgent need of money the Ministers
refused to raise a foreign loan on the only terms
on which Russia and England were prepared to
assist. The acceptance of the Regency early
in 1911 by Nasr el-Mulk, an alumnus of
Balliol, has been followed by a distinct
improvement in the situation, which the
employment of American financiers may be
expected to confirm.

INDIA AND PERSIA 179

Throughout Asia two currents are clearly
visible. On the one hand, there is a desire to
imitate the West, to learn its secrets, to
borrow its skill. On the other, there is a
deep-seated determination to retain and even
to emphasise traditional ideals and character-
istics. The tendencies meet not only in
the same nation but in the same individual.
In some cases a return to older practices is
urged by the very men who have drunk most
deeply at the springs of Western learning.
The awakening of the East has been rendered
possible by the appropriation of the ideas and
methods of the West ; but the enduring
result is the afl&rmation of its own personality.

CHAPTER VIII

THE PARTITION OF AFRICA

The partition of Africa has taken place
with lightning rapidity during the years
covered by this volume. The Powers, seek-
ing outlets for their population or markets
for their trade and debarred from South
America by the Monroe doctrine, turned to
the Dark Continent. A generation ago,
European settlements were patches on the
coast. To-day, only three independent States,
Abyssinia, Morocco, and the little negro
republic of Liberia, remain. Yet while the
government has passed into white hands, the
greater part of Africa is closed to white men
by the iron law of nature.

Contrary to the expectation and desire of
the Gladstone Ministry on intervening in
Egypt on behalf of Ismail's creditors, the
British occupation has continued for a genera-
tion. When Sir Evelyn Baring arrived in
1 80

EGYPT 181

Cairo in 1883 he found a gigantic task awaiting
him. Arabi's revolt had been quelled by
British troops, but the dislike of foreign
interference was undiminished. The Treasury
was empty, and the State owed 100 millions.
Turkey watched the settlement of a Great
Power in her province with jealous eyes, and
France waited impatiently for the promised
evacuation. In the year of his arrival an
Egyptian army, led by General Hicks, was
annihilated by the Mahdi in Kordofan, and in
1884 another force under General Baker was
routed. As the Khedivial army was incapable
of fighting, Gordon was sent to withdraw the
garrisons and civilians from the interior, but
ruined his chance of success by proclaiming
the abandonment of the Sudan and disobeying
orders. He was surrounded in Khartum,
which fell in 1885 after a prolonged siege. On
Gordon's death the whole country passed into
the hands of the Mahdi.

The loss of the Sudan allowed the British
Agent to devote his attention to internal
reform. In 1885 he obtained the permission
of the Powers to raise a loan of nine millions
to pay off accumulated deficits and to extend
irrigation. In 1888 deficits ceased, and the
financial position steadily improved. No tax
but the tobacco duty has been increased,
taxation has been remitted, railways, canals,
and public works have been provided out of

182 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

revenue, and Egyptian credit has risen to the
level of many European States. But the
assistance of the Government was direct as
well as indirect. Mehemet Ali and his
successors had realised the importance of
irrigation without being able to turn it to
much practical account. A barrage had been
built below Cairo to irrigate the Delta, but
the foundations were so weak that it was of
little use till it had been overhauled by British
engineers. In 1898 a gigantic dam was con-
structed at Assuan, which began to work in
1901 and has since been raised. The economic
stability of the peasant has been strengthened
by the provision of agricultural banks, and
his life rendered easier by the virtual abolition
of forced labour on public works.

The restoration of financial equilibrium
and the increase of the productive power of the
soil were the most urgent tasks ; but efforts to
introduce the equipment of a civilised State
were made in other directions. The adminis-
tration of justice among natives began to
improve when Sir John Scott was appointed
Judicial Adviser in 1891. Egyptian judges
have proved themselves worthy of their trust,
bribes have become rare, and torture has
disappeared. The standard of the police has
been raised by the appointment of British
inspectors. Public health has steadily im-
proved, and travelling eye hospitals have

EGYPT 183

reduced ophthalmia. Village schools have
been encouraged by grants-in-aid, and tech-
nical colleges have been instituted.

The disasters in the Sudan had arisen
not only from cowardice but from the arbitrary
methods by which the soldiers were recruited.
Good pay and good food soon produced a better
tone, and self-confidence was strengthened
by the co-operation of British troops. How
great Ihe change wrought by the Sirdars,
Sir Evelyn Wood and Sir Herbert Kitchener,
was shown in the reconquest of the Sudan.
Dervish attacks on Egypt were repulsed,
and in 1896 the first step was taken by the
advance to Dongola. The railway was pushed
forward, Berber was captured in 1897, and
in 1898 the forces of the Khalifa, who had
succeeded the Mahdi, were defeated at the
Atbara River and annihilated at Omdurman.
The Khalifa fled into Kordofan and was
killed in action a year later. The Sudan
henceforth belonged to Britain and Egypt
jointly. The lease of the great province of
the Bahr-el-Ghazal to the Congo Free State in
1894 was annulled in 1906, and the Lado En-
clave, the only district which French jealousies
had allowed King Leopold to administer,
reverted on his death to Anglo-Egyptian
control. Except for some petty revolts, the
vast area has enjoyed a period of peace, and
the charge on Egyptian revenues has steadily

184 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

decreased. The Red Sea has been con-
nected by railway with the Nile, while the
Egyptian line has been extended to Khartum,
and the White Nile has been cleared of sudd.

Though financial equilibrium had been
restored, the hands of the British Agent were
to a large extent tied by the Commission
of the Debt established in 1876. Thus,
when it was proposed that Egypt should
pay for the reconquest of the Sudan, France
and Russia vetoed the scheme, and the
British Government lent the money. An
immense relief was experienced when the
Anglo-French Treaty of 1904 secured the
withdrawal of European opposition and gave
a free hand in finance. On the other hand the
Capitulations, or treaty rights possessed by
the Powers, still prevent either the taxation
or control of the ever-increasing army of
European residents. When Lord Cromer
resigned in 1907, after twenty-four years of
benevolent despotism, he left the country in
the enjoyment of a prosperity greater perhaps
than it had ever known.

On the material side the work of England
in Egypt has been highly successful ; but
the more difficult problem of winning the
confidence and affection of the people remains
to be solved. The generation which had
suffered from Ismail is dying out, and the
increased prosperity of the peasant is largely

EGYPT 185

discounted by a sensational rise in the cost
of living. Large numbers of Egyptians resent
the continued domination of a foreign Power
which has repeatedly promised to withdraw.
The Legislative Council and the General
Assembly instituted by Lord Dufferin in
1883 have never possessed real authority.
On the death of Tewfik in 1892 his son Abbas
vainly endeavoured to assert himself by
choosing his Ministers ; but the Nationalist
movement grew rapidly in the last years of
Lord Cromer's rule, and found a leader in
a young lawyer and journalist, Mustapha
Kamel. The unpopularity of the Occupa-
tion was increased by the vindictive punish-
ments inflicted on the Denshawi villagers in
1906 for an attack on British officers engaged
in pigeon-shooting, and was further revealed
by the assassination of the Coptic Premier,
Boutros Pasha, and the rejection of the
Government's proposals in regard to the Suez
Canal by the General Assembly. Sir Eldon
Gorst, who succeeded Lord Cromer, was
prepared to go somewhat further towards
meeting the wishes of moderate Nationalism ;
but the British residents protested that his
concessions were weakening British prestige.
So threatening did the situation become
that in 1910 Sir Edward Grey announced
that there was no intention of evacuating
Egypt and that attacks on the Government

186 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

would be sternly repressed. Since this de-
claration the situation has been outwardly
more tranquil ; but the conflict with the
Nationalist press continues, and the events
of the last few years have revealed how
precarious is the foundation on which British
rule in Egypt rests,

II

While France has lost her privileged posi-
tion on the Nile, she now dominates the
huge north-west shoulder of the Dark Con-
tinent. Algeria, the conquest of Louis Philippe,
has been a drain on the mother country ;
but Tunis has made more rapid progress.
The Treaty of Algeciras recognised her
special position in Morocco. A series of
outrages led in 1907 to the occupation of
Udja, near the Algerian frontier, and of
Casablanca and the Shawia district on the
Atlantic coast. In 1911, the Sultan being
hard pressed by rebel tribes, French troops
were dispatched to Fez to restore his authority.
The probability that Morocco will be engulfed
is increased by the fact that the vast territory
to the south and east is now included in
the French sphere of influence. An advance
into the interior from Senegal was under-
taken by Faidherbe during the Second Empire,
and in 1880 began a further move to the

CENTRAL AFRICA 187

Upper Niger, though Timbuctoo was not
occupied till 1903. When the scramble for
Africa commenced, France determined to
secure a foothold on the Guinea Coast. The
Ivory Coast was annexed in 1891, and in
1892 the little kingdom of Dahomey was
conquered. Meanwhile, desiring that no
European Power should drive a wedge be-
tween her new empire on the Niger and her
Mediterranean colonies, she obtained in 1890
British recognition of her sphere of influence
as far east as Lake Chad.

Farther south French settlements had ex-
isted on the Congo coast since Louis Philippe.
During the early years of the Third Republic
De Brazza pushed far into the interior simul-
taneously with Stanley, keeping mainly to the
northern banks of the great river. When
the Berlin Conference created the Congo Free
State, France insisted on a large part of the
western and northern watershed. Starting
from their new colony, the French Congo,
missions pushed north to Lake Chad, thus
opening up an all-French route to the Medi-
terranean. By the Anglo-French Conven-
tion of 1899 Great Britain recognised French
claims to Wadai. Thus, with the exception
of Liberia and the European coastal colonies,
the whole of North-West Africa from Tunis
to the Congo, from Senegal to Lake Chad, is
scheduled as the French sphere of influence.

188 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

France is in mileage the greatest African
power ; but a large part of her claim is
unconquered and even unexplored, while
the Sahara can scarcely be reckoned as a
marketable asset. Her rule, moreover, is
exposed to danger from the Mohammedan
Sultanates of Central Africa and from the
mysterious power of the Senussi. On the
other side of Africa, France has annexed
Madagascar. A protectorate was established
over the island in 1885 after severe fighting ;
but the inhabitants refused to acquiesce, and
the final step was taken in 1895, when a
French army landed and captured the capital
Antananarivo. The Queen was deposed, and
in 1896 the island became a French colony.

The largest State in Central Africa is the
Belgian Congo. From the beginning of his
reign King Leopold had followed the explora-
tion of the Dark Continent with passionate
interest. At his invitation a Geographical
Congress assembled at Brussels in 1876, from
which arose an International Association
for the Civilisation of Central Africa, with
himself as President. Each nation was to
undertake a section of the work. But the
national committees became independent,
and the Association itself was soon a purely
Belgian body. The journey of Stanley from
the Indian Ocean to the Great Lakes, and
from the Great Lakes along the Congo to

CENTRAL AFRICA 189

the Atlantic (1874-77), riveted the King's
attention on the Congo basin. A " Committee
for the Study of the Upper Congo" was
founded, and in 1879 Stanley was dispatched
to conclude treaties with the chiefs. In
1884, when forty stations had been founded
and five steamers were on the river, the Com-
mittee of Study changed its name to the
International Association of the Congo, and
was recognised by the United States. At
this moment the new State was threatened
by a great danger. Portugal persuaded
Great Britain to recognise her claims over
the mouth of the river. Leopold immediately
concluded an agreement with France, offer-
ing the pre-emption of his territory in return
for French recognition. Bismarck added his
protest, and the Anglo-Portuguese treaty
remained unratified. Germany now recog-
nised the Congo State, and issued invitations
to a Conference at Berlin to discuss out-
standing questions of African colonisation.
The Conference recognised the Congo State,
and the King undertook to ameliorate the
condition of the natives and to allow freedom
of commerce.

A year or two after reaching the summit of
his ambition Leopold began to betray the
conditions of his trust. Unoccupied land was
declared to belong to the State. Companies
received concessions to collect rubber, and

190 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

paid half the profits to the King. In 1891
permission was given by the Powers to levy
import duties, and practically the whole
trade of the country was soon a Belgian
monopoly. The most valuable parts of the
vast territory were appropriated as the
Domaine de la Couronne. The Belgians com-
mitted or allowed incredible cruelties. A
crushing tribute of rubber was demanded
from the villages, and among the penalties
for non-payment was mutilation. The vast
country was ruled by a handful of ill-paid and
uncontrolled officials. Stokes, an English
missionary who had become a trader, was
suspected of furnishing the natives with
powder, and hanged without trial. A rail-
way was built from the coast to Stanley
Pool, where the river enters the rapids, and
some of the more obvious necessities of
civilisation were introduced into the towns ;
but the regime was one of ruthless exploita-
tion. Harrowing tales were sent home by
the missionaries, and confirmed by the
official report of Mr. Casement, British
Consul at Boma. Meanwhile the Aborigines
Protection Society urged the British Govern-
ment in 1896 to take action. In 1897 Sir
Charles Dilke demanded an International
Conference to save the natives. When the
Government refused, the Congo Reform Asso-
ciation was founded, with Mr. Morel as secre-

CENTRAL AFRICA 191

tary. In 1903 Lord Lansdowne at length
called the attention of the signatories of the
Berlin Act to the breaches of its provisions.
Leopold denied the right to intervene, and it
was hinted that British action was prompted
by selfish ambitions.

Though the proceeds of " Red Rubber "
were used to embellish Brussels and Ostend,
and Belgium was made heir to the vast
colonial empire by the King's will of 1889,
the voice of criticism was at last raised by
Vandervelde, the Socialist leader. The
assent of Parliament to the King's assump-
tion of the sovereignty in 1885 had been given
without enthusiasm. When made his heir
Belgium reluctantly advanced a million pounds
in return for power to annex after ten years.
When further assistance was needed in 1895
the Government arranged to annex at once ;
but public opinion was hostile, and the pro-
ject dropped. Criticism, both at home and
abroad, became so insistent that in 1904
the King felt constrained to appoint a Com-
mission of Inquiry. Its report revealed such
deplorable conditions that sweeping reforms
were at once promised, and in 1906 annexa-
tion began to be discussed. A treaty was
concluded in 1907 by which the Congo State
was transferred to Belgium ; but the opposi-
tion to the retention of the Domaine de la
Couronne led to an additional Act in 1908

192 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

providing for its purchase. With the acces-
sion of King Albert in 1909 a brighter era
seemed to be dawning. A new system of
government was announced, the aboHtion
of forced labour was promised, and the Congo
basin was gradually opened to foreign trade.
France and Germany at once recognised the
transfer, but the British and American
Governments withhold recognition till they
are satisfied that the abuses have disappeared.
The German colonies in Africa date from
the scramble of 1884. In 1878 a German
branch of the International African Associa-
tion was founded, and both the hinterland
of Zanzibar and the Southern Congo were
explored. The first definite step towards
colonisation was taken in South-West Africa,
where for many years German missionaries
had worked among the Damaras and Herreros.
In 1883 Liideritz, a Bremen merchant, estab-
lished a trading station at Angra Pequena
in Damaraland ; and, after waiting to see if
Great Britain desired to annex the country,
Bismarck declared the coast from Angola to
Cape Colony under German protection in
1884. During the same summer Togoland,
a small kingdom to the east of the British
Gold Coast, and the Cameroons, a large tract
in the bend of the Gulf of Guinea which ulti-
mately extended inland as far as Lake Chad,
were declared German Protectorates. In

CENTRAL AFRICA 198

the autumn Dr. Peters, the German Rhodes,
landed at Zanzibar. Pushing into the in-
terior he signed treaties with the chiefs, and
founded the German East African Company,
to which the Government granted a Charter,
despite the energetic protests of the Sultan
of Zanzibar. In 1886 the respective spheres
of Great Britain, Germany, and Zanzibar
were delimited. The German Company was
too weak to repress a dangerous revolt among
the Arabs in 1888, and an Imperial Com-
missioner was sent to take over the Govern-
ment. In 1890 Germany recognised a British
Protectorate over Zanzibar in return for the
cession of Heligoland, and carried her own
frontier to the Congo State. From that
time German East Africa has had a fairly
prosperous career. The fortunes of German
South- West Africa, on the other hand, have
been chequered. Incessant conflict with the
Hottentots filled the first decade ; and after
a peaceful interval a formidable and costly
rebellion broke out in 1903 among the Herreros
in the north, which was not quelled till 1908.
The Portuguese colonies, the oldest on the
continent, have been passed in the race,
and a bold attempt to connect Mozambique
with Angola brought an ultimatum from
Great Britain in 1890. Despite this severe
rebuff, a measure of prosperity has come
with the railways into the interior, Delagoa

G

194 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

Bay forming the gate of the Transvaal and
Beira an outlet for Rhodesia. On the west
coast Angola has been the scene of raids
for the supply of servicaes for the cocoa
plantations on the islands of Principe and
San Thome.

The growth of British territory in Central
Africa has been scarcely less rapid than in
the north and south. On the west coast King
Prempeh was dethroned and Ashanti annexed
in 1896, an expedition was dispatched to
Benin in 1897 to avenge a massacre, and in
1898 a rising was suppressed in Sierra Leone.
But by far the greatest achievement has
been the building up of Nigeria, which now
stretches inland to the shores of Lake Chad.
In 1879 Sir George Goldie amalgamated the
British firms trading on the river into the
United African Company. Attracted by the
development of trade two French Companies
were formed, but were bought out before the
meeting of the Berlin Conference, which
approved the British claim to a protectorate.
In 1885 a treaty with the Sultan of Sokoto
secured to the Company the trading rights
of that thickly populated country and the
control of its foreign relations. A Charter
was granted to the Royal Niger Company in
1886, with control over the banks of the
river, while in 1893 the outlying districts
both east and west were organised as a

CENTRAL AFRICA 195

Protectorate under the Crown. A brisk
competition with France for influence on the
Middle Niger continued till the spheres were
settled in 1898. By 1899 the task had out-
grown the strength of the Chartered Company,
which was bought out by the Crown and
became Northern Nigeria. In 1902 the
Fulahs revolted ; but Kano was occupied
and the kingdom of Bornu conquered. The
Niger Coast Protectorate became Southern
Nigeria, which was united to Lagos in 1906.
In 1911 the railway reached Kano, nine
hundred miles from the sea.

The East African Convention between
Great Britain and Germany in 1886 did not
prevent friction in the hinterland. In 1890
Dr. Peters entered Uganda and persuaded
the King to place himself under German
protection ; but in the same year Germany
surrendered her claim. The British East
Africa Company, which had received a
Charter in 1887, found the new territory
too great a burden and gave notice of with-
drawal in 1892. Sir Gerald Portal was sent
to report on the situation in 1893, and by
his advice Uganda was retained and a Pro-
tectorate proclaimed in 1894. In 1896 the
Company sold its rights to the Imperial
authorities, and the British East Africa
Protectorate was constituted. The Uganda
railway, begun in 1896, reached Victoria
02

196 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

Nyanza in 1909. Though Mombasa and the
coast-line are unhealthy, Nairobi and the
highlands have proved themselves well suited
to European residents. Farther north the
Imperial Government withdrew from the
interior of Somaliland in 1910 after a decade
of costly and ineffectual strife.

Ill

The most important event in the recent
history of the Dark Continent is the building
up of a great empire in South Africa under
the British flag. The premature annexation
of the Transvaal in 1877 led to a successful
revolt of the Boers in 1881, and to a harvest
of racial hostility. The discovery of gold
on the Wit water srand in 1886 was followed
by an enormous influx of Europeans into
the conservative farming community of the
Transvaal. A great cosmopolitan city arose
at Johannesburg within forty miles of
Pretoria. Fearing that the immigrants
would swamp their national life the Boers
excluded the newcomers, whom they
regarded as birds of passage, from any share
in the political life of the country. Had the
Government been reasonably efficient, the
anomaly might have been tolerated ; but
the regime of President Kruger was corrupt

SOUTH AFRICA 197

as well as reactionary. In vain did Lord
Loch, the High Commissioner, visit Pre-
toria in 1894 and warn the President that
he must make concessions. In the follow-
ing year the Netherlands Railway Company
raised their terms so high that the Cape
traders sent their goods by wagon across
the Vaal River. Kruger retaliated by
closing the drifts, but yielded to a British
ultimatum.

While Kruger stood out as the champion
of Boer conservatism, Rhodes gradually
emerged as the representative of British
claims and ideals. He had settled in South
Africa in 1870 and rapidly made his fortune
in the diamond mines at Kimberley. Enter-
ing the Cape Parliament in 1884 he at once
became a force, and began to win converts
for his grandiose visions of expansion. By
his advice the Imperial Government kept
open the road to the north by dispatching
the Warren expedition in 1884 to evict the
Transvaal Boers who had settled in Bechuana-
land. Southern Bechuanaland became a
Crown colony and the North a Protectorate.
In 1888 Lobengula, King of the Matabele,
granted a concession of mineral rights to
Rhodes' agents. In 1889 Rhodes founded
the British South Africa Company for the
development of the interior, dreaming of a
dominion that should stretch to the Zambesi

198 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

and beyond. In 1890 the pioneer expedition
set forth, guided by Mr. Selous, the famous
hunter, and a fort was established at Salisbury
in Mashonaland. The Transvaal withdrew
its claim to the north of the Limpopo River ;
and in 1891 an Anglo-Portuguese treaty was
signed recognising Portuguese rights over
the coast district of the Zambesi and British
rights over Matabeleland, Mashonaland, and
the districts beyond the great river. Part
of the latter was entrusted to the Chartered
Company under the name of Northern
Rhodesia. A Protectorate was declared over
Nyasaland, which in 1893 received the name
of British Central Africa and in 1907 that
of the Nyasaland Protectorate. The first
crisis in the fortunes of the Company occurred
in 1893, when the Matabele attacked the
scattered settlers. The Company w^as
victorious, Bulawayo, the Matabele capital,
was taken, and Lobengula fled. A final
revolt, mainly due to harsh treatment of the
natives, broke out in 1896, but was terminated
by a visit of Rhodes to the Matabele camp.
A year later the railway reached Bulawayo,
and an outlet to the coast was effected by a
line from Salisbury to Beira. The expenses
of the new State were so great that for many
years large deficits were incurred, while
friction arose between the settlers and the
Company. In 1905 the railway crossed the

SOUTH AFRICA 199

Zambesi, and the vast, thinly - populated
regions beyond are now divided into North-
West and North-East Rhodesia, the former
stretching to the Congo State, the latter
to German East Africa and Lake Tan-
ganyika.

In 1895 Rhodes was the most successful
as well as the most striking personality in
South Africa. He was master of Kimberley,
Prime Minister of Cape Colony, founder of
Rhodesia, largely interested in the Rand
mines, and on excellent terms with Hofmeyr
and the Bond. Yet by a single false move
he shattered his power and revived racial
discord. Despairing of obtaining the redress
of their grievances from Pretoria, the Out-
landers determined to take the law into
their own hands. Rhodes offered the help
of the Chartered Company's mounted police,
whom he held in readiness on the western
frontier. Dr. Jameson, their commander,
was supplied with a letter pretending that
the women and children of Johannesburg
were in danger and summoning him to their
defence. Differences arose as to what flag
should be raised if the Outlanders were
successful. Before agreement had been
reached, Jameson crossed the frontier on
December 29th, and was quickly compelled
to surrender to a superior force of Boers.
The whole of South Africa was convulsed

200 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

by the Raid, and the Dutch realised that
they must stand together. Kruger's re-
actionary government had become abhorrent
to the progressive Boers, and in the Presi-
dential election of 1894 he had "won by
a narrow majority ; but the Raid revived
his waning power and made him the symbol
of national independence. At the next
election he obtained an immense majority,
and in 1897 a military alliance was formed
with the Orange River Colony. At the same
time the Transvaal began to order large
quantities of guns and ammunition from
Europe. The country had been treacherously
annexed in 1877 and treacherously attacked
in 1895, and it was common prudence to be
prepared for a further surprise.

The mischief of the Raid was increased
by the failure of the South Africa Committee
to insist on the production of all the relevant
documents and by the refusal of the British
Government to inflict any punishment on
Rhodes. The Dutch believed that the
Colonial Office had known of the conspiracy
and that the missing telegrams would have
proved it. The relations of the two races
became steadily worse, and men in both
camps began to speak of a war for the
supremacy of South Africa. The situation
demanded exceptional tact on both sides if
a rupture was to be avoided ; but tact was

SOUTH AFRICA 201

sadly lacking. Kruger was obstinate and
narrow-minded. Mr. Chamberlain was un-
fitted by temperament for the delicate tasks
of diplomacy, and his assertion of suzerainty
in a form at variance with Lord Derby's
concessions in the London Convention of
1884 was needlessly provocative. The
situation was rendered still more critical by
the speeches and dispatches of Sir Alfred
Milner, who was appointed High Com-
missioner in 1897. A monster petition from
the Outlanders early in 1899 extracted a
promise of intervention. Kruger and the
High Commissioner met at Bloemfontein in
May, but failed to reach a compromise. The
discussion of naturalisation and franchise
reforms lasted through the summer. In
September troops were dispatched from
England and India, and on October 9th the
Transvaal Government issued an ultimatum.
The responsibility for the war must be
divided. A large share obviously falls to
Kruger ; but as Krugerism was dying when
the Raid gave it a new lease of life, the
share of Rhodes must be pronounced at
least as great. Even after the Raid a more
tactful diplomacy in Downing Street and
Cape Town might well have avoided the
terrible conflict.

The war began with the invasion of Natal,
where the British troops, after victories at

202 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

Talana Hill and Elandslaagte, fell back before
superior numbers to Ladysmith. At the
same time Mafeking and Kimberley were
invested, and Cape Colony was invaded.
With the arrival of Buller the British forces
undertook the offensive, and the second
stage of the war began. Methuen marched
to the relief of Kimberley, but was hurled
back at Magersfontein on December 10th.
On the same day Gatacre was defeated at
Stormberg, and at the end of the week
Buller's attempt to cross the Tugela at
Colenso was repulsed by Botha, who had
become Commander-in-Chief on the death
of Joubert. The triple defeat revealed the
magnitude of the struggle. Lord Roberts
was appointed to the supreme command
with Lord Kitchener to assist him, and the
Colonies vied with one another in the dispatch
of volunteers. The third stage in the war
was reached when French's cavalry, making
a detour of the Boer camp, relieved Kimberley,
and Cronje, placed between two fires, fled
from his entrenchments and surrendered with
4000 men at Paardeberg. The capture of
Cronje in February 1900 was the turning-
point of the war. The Free State was
quickly overrun and Bloemfontein was
occupied. At the end of the same month
Buller, after a costly repulse at Spion Kop,
relieved Ladysmith and drove the Boers out

SOUTH AFRICA 203

of Natal. Mafeking, heroically defended by
Baden-Powell, was relieved in May, and in
June Lord Roberts occupied Johannesburg
and Pretoria. Kruger fled to Europe, and
the war entered on its fourth and final stage,
in which the Boers fought not for victory but
for honour, and De Wet revealed his skill
as a guerrilla chief. The prolonged struggle
brought increasing embitterment ; but
neither overwhelming numbers, nor the whole-
sale devastation of the country, nor the
appalling mortality among the children in
the Concentration Camps secured the uncon-
ditional surrender which the Government
were long unwise enough to demand. The
Treaty of Vereeniging, signed in May 1902,
while registering the loss of their independence,
granted terms which brave men could accept
without humiliation.

The prolonged conflict turned a large part
of South Africa into a desert. The Boer
prisoners were brought back from India and
St. Helena, and assisted by grants and loans.
The mining community returned to Johan-
nesburg ; but the mine-owners, finding a
difficulty in obtaining native labour at the
wages paid before the war, prevailed on the
British Government to sanction the importa-
tion of Chinese coolies. The victory of the
Liberal party at the polls in 1906 was followed
by important changes. The further im-

204 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

portation of Chinese was forbidden, and full
self-government was granted to the con-
quered republics. The courageous generosity
of the act struck the imagination of the world,
and the conviction of Campbell-Bannerman
that self-government alone could heal the
wounds of war was abundantly justified by
events. Racial bitterness steadily decreased
when British and Dutch found themselves
co-operating in the task of reconstruction.
The Transvaal elections made General Botha
Premier with a composite Cabinet. The
Chinese, whose outbreaks had caused terror
in the environs of Johannesburg, were gradu-
ally repatriated, and their departure was
followed by a steady increase in the output
of the mines.

Attention was soon turned to a problem
of more than local importance. There were
now four self-governing colonies, the interests
of which touched at many points. Questions
of tariffs, railways, and immigration invited
common action, and the greatest of all prob-
lems, that of the native races, suggested the
union of the white governments for counsel
and defence. A Convention met in secret
session at Durban and later at Cape Town
during the summer of 1908-1909 and framed
a constitution, not federal but unitary, which
was accepted by the colonies concerned and
embodied in a Statute by the British Parlia-

SOUTH AFRICA 205

ment. General Botha, who was invited to
form the first Ministry, obtained a working
majority at the elections, and the Union
Parliament was opened in Cape Town in 1910
by the Duke of Connaiight.

CHAPTER IX

THE NEW WORLD

The war between North and South was
followed by a rapid restoration of material
prosperity and by the uncontested pre-
dominance of the party under whose auspices
the victory had been won. But the pro-
longed tenure of office during the period of
reconstruction demoralised the Republicans.
General Grant failed as conspicuously in the
White House as he had shone on the battle-
field, and a J ax spirit invaded the ad-
ministration. A demand for new methods
began to make itself heard under Garfield,
and it was weariness rather than enthusiasm
for the Democrats which decided the election
of 1884. The Republican candidate, Blaine,
was believed to have used his position as
Speaker to enrich himself by dealings with
the corporations, and the Mugwumps, or
reforming Republicans, led by Carl Schurz,

did not hesitate to vote for Cleveland.

206

THE UNITED STATES 207

The new President was confronted by a
formidable task. His Mugwump supporters
urged him to stand outside party ; but he
was determined to act as a Democrat, and
he introduced large numbers of Democrats
into the Civil Service, which had been a
Republican monopoly for a generation. As
the Senate was hostile, party legislation and
an independent foreign policy were impos-
sible ; yet Cleveland, for the first time since
Lincoln, stamped his individuality on the
life of the State, and his sturdy independ-
ence was shown by his repeated veto of bills
to extend pensions to the survivors or
dependents of those who had fought in the
Civil War. The gravest problem that he
had to face was labour discontent. In the
early days of Californian development Chinese
labourers had played a useful part ; but as
their numbers increased the dangers of a
large alien population which could not be
Americanised and whose low standard of
living threatened to drive the American
workman from the field became apparent.
In 1882 Chinese immigration was forbidden
for ten years, and in 1888 the exclusion was
made permanent at the instance of the
Pacific States, where riotous attacks on the
Chinese quarters were frequent. But it was
not only in the West that troubles arose.
The Knights of Labour had come to number

208 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

over half a million and had grown to be a
power in the land. In 1886 a serious conflict
with the police occurred in Chicago ; but a
reaction of opinion followed the riot. The
Knights were touched with anarchy, and the
loosely knit structure crumbled to pieces, its
place being taken by the American Federation
of Labour.

Cleveland was not the only man who
traced economic discontent in large measure
to the high tariff imposed during the Civil
War, and in 1887 he devoted his annual
Message to the subject. A wholesale re-
duction of duties passed the House, but
was rejected in the Senate. In the Presi-
dential campaign of 1888, General Harrison
obtained a small majority, and the Republicans
regained control of the House of Repre-
sentatives. They had learned their lesson.
The country realised that it could turn
to the Democrats without danger, and the
victorious party knew that the days of
Grant and Blaine could not be restored.

The wounds of war had been healed,
but a wide divergence of opinion separated
the south and west from the east. It was
the difference between an agricultural and
an industrial population. The former asked
for a paper or silver currency to facilitate
business exchange, resented the power of
the railways and capitalist corporations, and

THE UNITED STATES 209

believed that the small farmer and trader
were being sacrificed to their great com-
petitors. The Democrats, drawing their
strength from the west and south, were
the chief champions of currency changes ;
but the Republicans were unwilling to be
outdone. In 1890 the Sherman Act com-
pelled the Treasury to buy 4 J million ounces
of silver monthly, paying for it in Treasury
notes redeemable on demand in gold or
silver coin, and, when redeemed, to be re-
issued. The measure did not satisfy the
advocates of sound money, but was accepted
by them in order to avoid a bill for the free
coinage of silver at 16 to 1. In the same
year a law to restrain trusts was carried,
and the McKinley tariff largely increased the
duties on imports.

Harrison, though estimable and honest,
possessed no political ability, and Blaine,
his brilliant Secretary of State, inspired no
confidence. The Democrats won back their
majority in the House in 1890, and in 1892
Cleveland was elected for a second time.
A candidate of the new People's party re-
ceived over a million votes. The Populists
maintained that the nation was on the verge
of moral and material ruin, the result of
capitalist oppression. The remedies were to
be found in free coinage of silver at the ratio
of 16 to 1, a graduated income tax, State

210 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

ownership of railways, and State loans to
the people. Many members of the older
parties also favoured the demand that gold,
silver, and paper should be equally valid.
Cleveland, on the other hand, denounced all
tampering with the standards of value. During
his first presidency he had in vain urged the
suspension of compulsory coinage of 2
to 4 million silver dollars monthly im-
posed on the State in 1878, on the ground
that they were worth less than their face
value as compared with gold, that less than
a quarter of them had found their way into
circulation, and that as they were legal
tender they were quickly returned to the
Treasury. The situation had been rendered
worse by the Sherman Act. There was
now outstanding a mass of notes which, when
redeemed, had to be reissued. The hoard-
ing of gold increased, and it was difficult
to obtain money for current business. If
the Government ceased to pay in gold, silver
would become the standard of values, pro-
perty would lose half its value, and credit
would collapse. In 1893 the situation became
critical, and on his inauguration Cleveland
called a special session of Congress, demand-
ing the repeal of the purchase clause of the
Sherman Act. The Senate delayed the bill
for weeks, while business was paralysed.
Finally, in October, it gave way.

THE UNITED STATES 211

Though the revenue suffered from the
panic, Cleveland turned to the revision of
the tariff. The free list was largely ex-
tended, the rates generally reduced and
based on value. But the Senate raised
the duties and removed several articles
from the free list. The House accepted
the mutilated measure in default of anything
better, and Cleveland allowed the Wilson
tariff to become law without his signature.
To meet the loss on the customs an income
tax was imposed ; but though it had been
in operation during the Civil War it was now
declared unconstitutional by the Supreme
Court. The financial position was thus pre-
carious, and Cleveland desired to stop the
endless demand for gold by ceasing to reissue
notes when redeemed. Though both Houses
were Democratic for the first time since the war,
they were filled with silver men who blocked
the proposal. It was a time of depression
and unrest, and men sought anxiously for
remedies. Armies of unemployed marched
through the country, and strikes broke out.
The workers of the Pullman Company at
Chicago tried to prevent the use of the
cars. When traffic was interrupted Cleve-
land intervened on the ground that the
mails were being hindered and interstate
commerce blocked. Federal troops were sent
and order was quickly restored.

212 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

In foreign affairs Cleveland's second
Presidency was eventful. Hawaii, which
possessed growing commercial and strategic
importance, was ruled by a native Queen
whose authority had gradually been reduced
to a shadow by American settlers. In 1876
a reciprocity treaty bound the islands to
America by close economic ties. In 1884 the
States leased a naval station. In 1887 the
suffrage was granted to the white settlers.
In 1893 the Queen suddenly abolished the
Constitution and restored the control of the
Crown. A revolution broke out, forces were
landed from an American warship in the
harbour, and a Provisional Government was
established. The American Minister pro-
claimed a protectorate on his own initiative,
and Harrison sent an annexation treaty to
the Senate. A fortnight later Cleveland
became President, withdrew the treaty, and
repudiated the Minister. But as the Queen
would not consent to an amnesty as a con-
dition of her restoration, the Provisional
Government remained in power, and the
islands were annexed in 1898.

If Cleveland had no desire to assume new
responsibilities in the Pacific, he was fully
prepared to defend the claims of the United
States on the mainland. The boundary
between British Guiana and Venezuela had
never been fixed, and the discovery of gold in

THE UNITED STATES 213

the disputed territory rendered the settlement
of the question urgent. When repeated dis-
cussions led to no result, Cleveland offered
the mediation of the United States in 1895,
and Olney, his Secretary of State, demanded
arbitration. Asserting that the United
States were " paramount on the American
Continent," he declared that the Monroe
Doctrine " entitled and required " inter-
vention. Salisbury refused unrestricted
arbitration, adding that the Doctrine was in-
applicable to the controversy and was in any
case no part of International Law. Cleve-
land replied by a peremptory Message,
announcing that he would appoint a Com-
mission of Inquiry and enforce its decisions,
whatever they might be. The response to
this uncompromising assertion of American
claims was instantaneous, and a wave of
warlike enthusiasm swept over the States.
The British Government, amazed at the
Message, consented to an arbitration v^hich
resulted in establishing the essentials of the
British claim.

The world did not awake to the full
significance of the Monroe Doctrine till it
suddenly discovered that the United States
were ready to go to war about the boundary
of Venezuela. When the danger arose in
1823 of the Holy Alliance assisting Spain to
recover her colonies in the New World,

214 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

President Monroe, with Canning behind him,
declared that America was " henceforth not
to be considered as subject to colonisation
by any European Power." The declaration
rested on the idea of a natural separation
between the Old and the New World which
had inspired the warning against alliances in
Washington's farewell address. It asserted
the right of free peoples to determine their
own destinies, and proclaimed the principle
of " America for the Americans." What
Bismarck described as an international im-
pertinence has been the corner-stone of the
foreign policy of the United States. The
Mexican Empire of Louis Napoleon was only
rendered possible by the Civil War, and when
the conflict was over it received notice to
quit. As the United States increased in
strength the scope of the declaration was
widened. While Monroe had declared that
there would be no interference with existing
colonies. Grant spoke as if their connection
with Europe should cease. The Olney
dispatch carried the doctrine a stage forward.
After being brought within sight of war the
relations of the United States and Great
Britain became more friendly. Before his
famous Message Cleveland had suggested a
general treaty of arbitration, and the Vene-
zuela quarrel increased his desire for it. In
1897 the two Governments signed a treaty ;

THE UNITED STATES 215

but the two-thirds majority in the Senate was
not forthcoming, partly owing to its tradi-
tional disinclination to surrender any fraction
of its power, partly from fear of the Irish
vote. Mr. Chamberlain's ill-judged proposal
of an alliance met with an even less friendly
welcome.

With the end of Cleveland's second term
American politics entered on a new phase.
His party had broken away from him, and
the Presidential election of 1896 revealed
the strength of the new forces. The agri-
cultural States of the south and west were
still suffering severely, and clamoured for free
silver. Business was scarcely less depressed.
Money was scarce, it was said, because the
Government insisted on the gold standard,
though gold was too scarce to be the sole
medium of exchange. The conviction be-
came general that the stagnation could be
relieved by the free coinage of gold and
silver at the ratio of 16 to 1. Many Re-
publicans were converted, but the party as a
whole resisted the infection. The Democratic
Convention, on the other hand, nominated
Bryan, a young lawyer from Nebraska, on the
strength of a brilliant speech voicing the
spirit of passionate revolt by which the
assembly was moved. His phrase " We will
not be crucified on a cross of gold" became
the watchword of the campaign. While the

216 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

Populists and the Free Silver Republicans
supported Bryan, the Conservative Democrats
threw off their allegiance. Though he
preached his gospel with extraordinary
eloquence, and multitudes saw in him a new
Messiah, the conservative forces in the country
won. McKinley was elected by a majority
of half a million on a poll of 14 millions, and
a Republican majority was returned in both
Houses. The enormous output of gold in
South Africa banished the fear of a deficiency
in the circulating medium, and a series of
good years restored prosperity to agriculture.
An Act was passed for the preservation of the
gold standard, and a large gold reserve was
established. To meet the need of revenue the
Dingley tariff was hurried through Congress
in 1897.

The new President was to be confronted
with problems which had played no part
in the electoral campaign. The renewal of
the insurrection in Cuba in 1895 and its
savage repression by Weyler had deeply
stirred opinion, and in his annual Message
in 1896 Cleveland threatened intervention.
American interests had become very large,
and the island was being steadily ruined.
In 1897 McKinley formally requested Spain
to restore order. When the Maine was
blown up the country clamoured for war.
Though McKinley had no desire for a con-

THE UNITED STATES 217

flict, he made no attempt to stem the rising
excitement. Congress declared the Cubans
free and independent, authorising the
President to terminate Spanish Government
in the island, and recording their resolution
not to annex it. The country was totally
unprepared for the struggle. The army was
only 27,000 strong, and the chief burden fell
on volunteers. The navy, on the other
hand, though small, was horoughly efficient
One Spanish fleet was destroyed in Manila
Bay without the loss of a single American
life, and another in a dash from Santiago,
in which only one American was killed. At
the end of July, Spain sued for peace. Only
one battle had been fought on land.

At this moment Dewey was proposing to
attack Manila, and had arranged with
Aguinaldo, who had recently led the
Filipinos in revolt, to co-operate from the
land side. The day after the armistice was
signed at Washington, Manila was captured.
Spain vigorously resisted the cession of the
Philippines, which had not been conquered ;
but the blow was softened by the payment
of 4 millions. The Commissioners of the
Pov/ers met at Paris in October. The treaty
of peace gave Cuba to the Cubans, and Porto
Rico and the Philippines to the victors.
The revelation of Spanish weakness had
turned a war of deliverance into a war of

218 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

aggrandisement. The territory of the United
States was filling up. New markets were
needed. The Philippines offered a foothold
in the East, to which the Powers were
turning their eyes. It seemed as if the
opportunity for a larger life came with the
need, and the Republic reached out its hand
and seized it.

The enthusiasm of empire disappeared
almost as rapidly as it had arisen. Aguinaldo
had been brought from Hong-Kong in an
American vessel and treated as an ally, and
he had believed that the Americans were
helping his fellow-countrymen to gain their
freedom. When they learned that they had
only changed their masters they set up a
republic. A revolt broke out in 1899, which
required several campaigns and an army of
70,000 men to suppress. The ravages of
disease, the barbarity with which the
Filipinos fought, and the cruelties with which
the troops retaliated sickened America of
the struggle. The Democrats declared that
a breach of faith had been committed ; but
no one desired to see the islands occupied
by Germany or Japan. Heroic efforts were
made to educate the Filipinos and prepare
them for ultimate self-government ; but
they felt no gratitude, and clamoured for
independence. The expense of the occupa-
tion was enormous. A year or two after the

THE UNITED STATES 219

war, in the words of Mr. Bryce, " the one
party no longer claimed any credit for the
conquest, and the other could not suggest
how to get rid of it." In regard to Cuba,
the States have loyally observed their pledges.
A Cuban Republic was established, and the
relations of the two countries were settled
by treaty in 1903. Cuba undertook not to
admit the interference of any foreign Power,
while the United States reserved the right
to intervene for the preservation of inde-
pendence and the maintenance of order.
Intervention became necessary under the
latter head in 1906, and the island was ruled
by an American Governor till 1909. The
experience of the Philippines is the best
guarantee of the independence of Cuba.

The Presidential election of 1900 found
the Republicans stronger than in 1896. As
business improved the silver cry lost its
potency. Bryan stood on the same plat-
form as before, but there was far less excite-
ment, and McKinley won by a larger majority.
A year later he was assassinated, and the Vice-
President was called to the helm. McKinley
lacked force and originality, and conceived it to
be his duty to follow public opinion. Roose-
velt, a born leader of men, regarded the
Presidency as a position inviting the exercise
of a vigorous initiative. He was aided by
his prestige. After an apprenticeship in

220 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

the New York legislature he had learned to
know the Middle West as a rancher, and had
displayed capacity as the head of the New
York police. He had raised a regiment of
rough-riders during the campaign in Cuba,
and shared with the admirals the honours
of the conflict. On his return he had become
Governor of New York. Called unex-
pectedly to the White House in 1901 at the
age of 42, Roosevelt entered on seven years
of almost personal rule. In 1902 he began
in insist on the necessity of legislation to
control the trusts, and his mediation in a
great strike of coal-miners in Pennsylvania
increased his popularity. Though the Re-
publican bosses were indignant at his attacks
on wealthy interests which supported the party,
his bold attitude was generally welcomed.
His marked attentions to Booker Washington
gave satisfaction to the best elements in the
country at a time when race riots were dis-
gracing the central as well as the southern
States.

I'he acquisition of a colonial empire in the
Atlantic and Pacific rendered the rapid con-
centration of the fleet essential. The Clayton-
Bulwer treaty of 1850 provided that if a
canal were made it should not be under the
exclusive control of any Power. In 1881
Secretary Blaine had in vain suggested to
the British Government that the treaty

THE UNITED STATES 221

should be modified ; but after the settle-
ment of the Venezuelan controversy the
relations of the two countries improved.
Great Britain openly sympathised with the
States in the Spanish w^ar, and it was widely
believed that she had nipped in the bud a
project for joint European intervention. The
seal was set on their reconciliation in 1901
when she recognised the right of the United
States to construct and fortify a canal under
its own exclusive jurisdiction. The Hay-
Pauncefote Treaty was followed by the pur-
chase of all rights and concessions from the
French Panama Company. Negotiations with
Columbia as to the status of the canal proving
fruitless, Panama declared its independence in
1903, and was immediately recognised by the
United States. A strip of land across the
peninsula ten miles wide was granted, in
return for a payment of two millions and an
annual subsidy. Construction began at once,
and the canal will be open in 1914.

The election of 1904 confirmed the
President in his position. The most striking
achievement of his second term was his media-
tion between Russia and Japan in 1905 ; but
the rapid influx of Japanese into the Pacific
States after the war led to ugly manifesta-
tions of feeling and to the exclusion of Japan-
ese children from the schools of California.
State and federal interests were in direct con-

222 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

flict. The despatch of the fleet to the Pacific
appeared to indicate tension ; but the Govern-
ments remained cool, and Japan undertook
to restrict settlement in America, despite her
treaty rights. At the same time a stricter
attitude was adopted towards white immi-
grants. The influx of English and Irish,
Germans and Scandinavians had rapidly-
declined, while enormous numbers from the
south and east of Europe now crossed the
Atlantic every year. The apprehensions
aroused by the arrival of a lower type of
civilisation led Congress in 1906 to make a
knowledge of English necessary for naturalis-
ation, and in 1907 to increase the restrictions
imposed on the invading army at Ellis Island.
The end of Roosevelt's term was darkened
by widespread distress. The earthquake
which destroyed San Francisco in 1906 was
followed by the Stock Exchange crisis of
1907, in which most of the banks suspended
cash payments for many weeks. The Presi-
dent's feud with the trusts and the bosses
increased in bitterness, and Wall Street lost no
opportunity of expressing its dislike of his
policy. Of a less controversial character were
his efforts to check the wholesale destruction
of the natural resources of the country.

On his election in 1904 Roosevelt had
declared that he would not stand again ;
and in 1908 his friend and colleague Taft

THE UNITED STATES 223

was elected without difficulty, Bryan being
defeated for the third time. The new Presi-
dent was expected to continue the policy
of his predecessor ; but he differed in temper
and method, if not in ideas. The business
world rejoiced in the prospect of less inter-
ference ; but the progressive elements in the
Republican party became restive. The In-
surgents were determined to break the power
of the bosses, and in 1909 Speaker Cannon
was overthrown. The President attempted
to prevent a final split between the two
sections of his party ; but his efforts met
with very partial success. The Payne- Aldrich
tariff brought no real reduction, and was
vigorously attacked by the Insurgents. The
confusion in the Republican ranks was intensi-
fied when Roosevelt returned from a trium-
phant tour in Europe in the summer of 1910.
At the Congressional elections in the autumn
the Democrats secured a sweeping majority,
carrying States which had never voted Demo-
crat before. The main cause of the Republi-
can rout was the failure to reduce the tariff,
which had raised the cost of living and
fostered monopolies and political corruption.
That the lesson was not lost on the President
was shown in 1911 by the conclusion of a
far-reaching measure of reciprocity with
Canada, and the summoning of a special
session of Congress for its ratification.

224 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

II

When the Canadian colonies were federated
in 1867 the scattered settlements beyond the
Rocky Mountains were isolated from the
east and even from Manitoba. To make a
nation was the task of Sir John Macdonald
and the Conservative party which came into
power in the year of federation, and, with a
short interval, retained office till 1896. Its
policy was the fostering of industries by Pro-
tection, the development of communications,
and the strengthening of the imperial con-
nection. The Canadian Pacific Railway
reached its goal in 1886, and the settlement
of the west began. A revolt of half-castes
in the north-west, led by Louis Riel, was
suppressed in 1885 by the Canadian Militia.
But prosperity and population increased
slowly, and thousands of Canadians settled
in the United States every year. The Liberal
party advocated a lower tariff and closer
commercial relations with the United States,
and for a time a few voices supported the
demand of Goldwin Smith for union. Mac-
donald died in 1891, his party was weakened
by financial scandals, and in 1896 the Liberals,
led by Laurier, entered on an uninterrupted
term of office. They continued the system
of Protection and bounties, but in 1897 a
step towards free trade was taken by the

CANADA 225

grant of a preference of 12| per cent., subse-
quently increased to 33 J per cent., to British
goods. This differentiation led to Germany
excepting Canada from the most favoured
nation treatment accorded by her to the
British Empire. Canada retaliated in 1903
by a sur-tax on German goods, and the tariff
war continued till 1910.

With the opening of the present century
her fortunes rapidly improved. The dis-
covery of gold at Klondyke in 1899 caused a
rush to the west. As the development of
the Pacific slope proceeded, Chinese and
Japanese coolies flocked in, and the Federal
Government was compelled to check them, —
the former by drastic legislation, the latter
by treaty. Western Canada attracted an
ever-increasing army of American settlers.
It was discovered that wheat would grow
farther north than had been supposed ; and
Canada began to take her place among the
granaries of the world. The vast space
between Manitoba and British Columbia was
filled in 1905 by the creation of the new
provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. So
great was the influx that the Governroient
felt strong enough to raise its standard for
European immigrants. Amid this whirl of
change the province of Quebec continues its
placid life, and its loyalty is expressed in the
well-known saying that the last shot in

H

226 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

defence of British sovereignty on the American
continent will be fired by a Frenchman. The
only grievance of the French Canadian has
arisen in the schools. When Manitoba was
made a province in 1870 it retained denomina-
tionalism, but substituted an unsectarian
system in 1890. French Catholics appealed
to the Privy Council, which declared that
the Federal Government could intervene.
In 1895 an attempt to override the province
failed, and it was left to the Liberals to
remove the grievance by protecting religious
teaching in the Catholic schools.

The relations of Canada with her great
neighbour have been smoothed by the suc-
cessive removal of differences. In 1886 a
dispute arose in regard to seal fishing in the
Behring Sea, which after long negotiations
was submitted to arbitration in 1892. The
Tribunal reported in 1893 in favour of the
British contention that it was an open sea,
and drew up a scheme of joint regulations.
A second controversy related to the boundary
Of Alaska, the huge Arctic province sold by
Russia to the United States in 1867. The!
matter was rendered important by the dis-.
covery of gold at Klondyke, and in 1903 the;
arbitrators decided broadly in favour of the
American claim. A third and even more
important dispute, relating to American
fishing rights off Newfoundland and Nova,

i

LATIN AMERICA 227

Scotia, was referred to the Hague Tribunal
in 1910, and settled in the main in accordance
with British claims. The Waterways Treaty
of 1910 established a permanent Court of
Conciliation for differences arising in boundary
waters. Finally, in 1911 a far-reaching
measure of reciprocity was framed by the
two Governments, the United States needing
a new supply of food and raw materials and
the Canadian West demanding cheaper
manufactured articles.

Ill

The last generation has witnessed the
rapid development of large portions of Latin
America. The gigantic federal State of
Mexico, in which the native Indian is much
more numerous than the white man, was
guided since 1877 by Porfirio Diaz, under
whose rule British and American capital
flowed in and peace was maintained. But
his long reign was frankly despotic, and the
country was developed by a hideous system
of virtual slave labour. His overthrow and
flight in 1911 have brought new men to the
front, and the future of Mexico is beyond
calculation. The five small Central American
Republics of Guatemala, Honduras, Nicar-
agua, San Salvador, and Costa Rica have
made but little progress. Federation, though
h2

228 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

often discussed, is still far off, and war and
insurrections have frightened foreign capital.
The opening of the canal may lead the United
States to insist on a minimum standard of
tranquillity. The first step has been taken
by the institution of a permanent Court of
Justice in 1908, under the auspices of the
United States and Mexico, for the settlement
of all disputes between the Central American
Republics. The little State of Panama is
already, for practical purposes, an American
Protectorate.

The tropical States of South America —
Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru — have
made scarcely more progress. Their history
oscillates between dictatorship and revolu-
tion, and their population consists almost
wholly of natives, negroes, and mestizos.
European settlers and European capital alike
avoid these Republics, with their enervating
climate and their feverish political life.
Bolivia and Paraguay are almost wholly
inhabited by native Indians. The Eastern
and Western States, on the other hand, have
made considerable and in some cases rapid
advance. During the long reign of Pedro II
many reforms were introduced in Brazil, and
slavery was abolished in 1888. But an
empire in a continent of republics appeared
an anomaly, and in 1889 the Emperor, who
had no son, was deposed by a bloodless

LATIN AMERICA 229

military revolution and shipped off to Lisbon.
Unwise finance has led to a series of crises ;
but Rio has become a great city, and the
resources of the vast country are only begin-
ning to be tapped. Far more striking has
been the career of Argentina, the second in
size and the first in importance of South
American States. Since her bankruptcy in
1889, which provoked the Baring crisis, she
has attracted a large European population,
chiefly Italian, and an enormous volume of
British capital. She will soon be the
greatest corn and meat exporting country in
the world. Her comparatively temperate
climate, rich plains, and easy water com-
munications promise a future of almost
boundless prosperity, and Buenos Ayres,
with a population of a million and a quarter,
is already by far the largest city in South
America. Her western neighbour, Chile, a
mere strip of the Pacific coast two thousand
miles long, has proved her enterprise, despite
grave internal troubles. The Presidency of
Balmaceda, which began in 1886, witnessed
a sincere attempt towards reform ; but Con-
gress, which was less democratic, thwarted
his efforts, and in 1891 civil war broke out.
The President was defeated and committed
suicide. War with Argentina on boundary
questions was avoided by submitting the
dispute to King Edward VII for arbitration.

230 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

The settlement of the gravest frontier
disputes, the growing preference for arbitra-
tion, and the increase of European settlers
and capital suggest a future of peaceful
development for the largest part of the
southern continent. Though the human
material is not of the best, the habits of
civilised States are gradually being acquired.
Federation is out of the question ; but
combinations of some of the smaller re-
publics are not impossible. While saved from
the fate of Africa by the Monroe Doctrine,
Latin America is at the mercy of her pro-
tector. The joint demonstration of Great
Britain, Germany, and Italy against Presi-
dent Castro in 1903 was watched with intense
suspicion by the United States, which pro-
claimed that even temporary occupation of
territory could not be permitted. The
attack on Venezuela prompted the Foreign
Minister of Argentina to demand the pro-
hibition of armed intervention for the col-
lection of debts. The Drago Doctrine was
widely discussed, and at the second Hague
Conference it was agreed that force should
not be employed till the claims had been
approved by arbitration and payment refused
by the debtor State.

The Pan-American Congresses at Washing-
ton (1889), Mexico City (1901), and Rio
(1906), and the establishment of the Bureau

LATIN AMERICA 231

of American Republics at Washington, point
to still closer relations between North and
South. But though Latin America is
grateful to her mighty neighbour for pro-
tection in time of need, she trembles lest
that power should be abused. The high-
handed treatment of Colombia sent a dis-
agreeable thrill through the southern hemi-
sphere. The Monroe Doctrine is the most
elastic as well as the most audacious of
political principles, and he would be a bold
man who dared to assert that its develop-
ment is at an end.

CHAPTER X

WORLD PROBLEMS

The most striking outward feature of the
history of the last generation is the shrink-
age of the world. No country, no continent
any longer lives an independent life. The
expansion of the dominant races has led to
a fuller occupation of the surface of the
earth. The curtains which hide its secrets
are being raised one by one. Lhassa was
invaded in 1904, the North Pole was reached
by Peary in 1909, the capitulation of the
South Pole is within sight. Man at last
knows his home. As the world contracts
the human race grows more conscious of
its unity. Ideas, ideals, and experiments
make the tour of the globe. Civilisation
has become international.

Of the world-movements of the last genera-
tion the advance of democracy, in its dual
aspect of liberty and equality, is by far
the most important. The Parliaments of

Japan, Persia, and Turkey, the demand

23a

WORLD PROBLEMS 233

for self-government in China, India, Egypt,
and the Phihppines, reveal the attrac-
tion of democratic ideas. The transfer of
power from the few to the many has gone
steadily forward. The aggregation of great
masses in cities has weakened feudal and
conservative influences and enabled the
fourth estate to organise its forces. The
right of the majority to give effect to its
settled wishes is now recognised, at least
in theory, in most civilised States, and
machinery is invented to discover what the
will of the people really is. The Referendum,
which has long worked to the general satis-
faction in Switzerland, has been adopted
in Australia and in some of the American
States ; while in the form of Local Option
it has spread throughout the English-speaking
world. Proportional representation is at
work in Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Fin-
land, Wiirttemberg, some of the Swiss
cantons. South Africa, and Japan, and is
steadily gaining ground. In Belgium and
parts of Switzerland the citizen is fined if
he does not go to the poll, and a similar
provision has been proposed in Italy and
Argentina.

More important than these mechanical
expedients for arriving at the will of the
people has been the concession of the fran-
chise to women in Australia and New Zealand,

234 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

Norway and Finland, the Isle of Man, and five
of the United States (Wyoming, Colorado,
Idaho, Utah, and Washington). Nineteen
women entered the Finnish Diet on the grant
of universal suffrage, and one took her seat
at Christiania in 1911. The demand for a
vote as the symbol of citizenship reached
a new stage in Great Britain in 1905, when
the Women's Social and Political Union,
founded by Mrs. Pankhurst in 1903, adopted
militant methods ; but the organised attack
on the sex barrier provoked an organised
defence, while the great mass of women
remain indifferent spectators of the con-
flict which is waged in their name. Several
Bills have received a second reading in the
House of Commons, but the historic parties
are too deeply divided in opinion to take
up the question officially. On the other
hand, women have voted in County Council
elections from the start, and in 1907 became
eligible for membership. The movement
towards sex equality makes rapid strides.
Women doctors are found everywhere, women
lawyers practise at the French Bar, women
ministers of religion are common in the
United States and not unknown in England.
Nearly every University has opened its
doors to female students, though Oxford
and Cambridge still refuse them the degrees
to which they are entitled. An International

WORLD PROBLEMS 235

Council of Women was formed in 1888 under
the presidency of Lady Aberdeen, and the
first Congress met in London in 1889. In
every department of life and work women
play a part of increasing importance. No
voice so powerful as that of Mill is raised
on their behalf ; but their ideals have been
forcibly expressed by such writers as Ellen
Key, Charlotte Oilman, and Olive Schreiner,
while the demand for legal equality has been
set forth in Lady Maclaren's Woman's Charter,
The concession of equal civil and political
rights is consistently supported by the Labour
parties of every country.

The most decisive sign of the advance of
democracy is the rise of organised Labour
parties. The attainment of a democratic
franchise has naturally been followed by a
demand for greater equality in the economic
sphere. In no great country has Socialism
played such a conspicuous part as in Germany,
where it has won the allegiance of the vast
majority of manual workers in the towns. In
Prussia it has at last forced its way into the
Landtag. In Saxony its power became so
great that the menaced interests combined
to withdraw universal suffrage in 1897. In
the more liberal South German States the
Socialists co-operate with the advanced
sections of the bourgeoisie. In Great Britain
a Labour party, largely though not wholly

236 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

socialist, emerged from the election of 1906.
In France and Italy parliamentary Socialism
became a force in the nineties. In Austria it
arrived with universal suffrage in 1907. Its
strength in the first and second Dumas was one
of the excuses for narrowing the franchise of
the third. In 1885 a Labour party was
formed in Belgium, where the Walloon
miners and factory-workers of the South
confront the Catholic Flemings of the North,
and where it is most closely associated with
the Co-operative movement. In Holland and
the Scandinavian States it has won a firm
hold in the Chambers, and in the Finnish Diet
elected in 1911 nearly half the members were
Socialists. In Spain it is increasing its hold
in the seaboard towns. Its leading person-
alities. Rebel and Bernstein in Germany,
Adler in Austria, Turati and Ferri in Italy,
Iglesias in Spain, Jaur^s in France, Vander-
velde in Belgium, Troelstra in Holland, Keir
Hardie, Ramsay Macdonald, and Philip
Snowden in England, are men of high char-
acter and unquestionable ability, influ-
ential in their respective Parliaments and
speaking for a great volume of working-class
opinion at the International Socialist Con-
gresses held at intervals since 1889.

The once imposing Marxian structure, mean-
while, is falling into ruins, and among its
critics are many Socialists. Its theory of

WORLD PROBLEMS 237

value is untenable, its economic forecast has
been falsified, its distrust of legislation as a
means of social betterment is out of date.
Younger men are turning to the " Revision-
ism " expounded in the writings of Bern-
stein, while the assumption of ministerial
office by French Socialists marks a further
breach with the exclusive traditions of the
past. In Great Britain Marxism has declined
in influence since the death of William Morris,
and the empirical collectivism of the Fabian
Society has made steady progress in the fields
both of theory and practice. The only
exception to the movement towards evolu-
tionary doctrine and parliamentary action is
to be found in Syndicalism, which has won a
large body of support in France and Italy
since Sorel published his work, The Socialist
Future of Syndicates, in 1897. The Syndicalist
works through federated trade unions instead
of through political representation. Unions,
he declares, must be purely fighting organisa-
tions, their chief weapon the strike, their
object the forcible transformation of society.
While Marx taught that the capitalist
movement tended automatically to its
own destruction, Sorel and his followers
affirm that the change can only be accom-
plished by a determined effort of the pro-
letariat.

Travelling beyond the boundaries of Europe,

238 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

Socialism is found to a less extent in the United
States, where private initiative is more highly
prized than in any other part of the world,
and where no Socialist entered Congress till
1911. In 1901 a Socialist party was organised
in Japan, where the evils of the competitive
system are growing with the development
of industry. In New Zealand a period of
advanced legislation, equally acceptable to
the Socialist and the Radical, was inaugurated
by Seddon. But it is in Australia that the
Labour party has gained its greatest political
successes. In 1904 a Labour Ministry held
office for a few months without an independent
majority ; but in 1910 the Commonwealth
elections gave it a substantial majority in
both Houses and enabled the Fisher Ministry
to levy a progressive land tax on undeveloped
estates.

In addition to the efforts of the manual
workers to improve their conditions of life
by industrial association, co-operative dis-
tribution, and political action, the members
of other classes have busied themselves
increasingly with the social problem.
Legislation aiming at a minimum standard
of education, health, and leisure is gradually
filling the statute-books of civilised countries,
and laggards are brought into line by the
international meetings and agreements which
began with the Berlin Labour Conference of

WORLD PROBLEMS 239

1890. Social experiments are copied as
rapidly as scientific inventions. The Ghent
system of insurance against unemployment,
inaugurated in 1903, has spread over Central
and Korthern Europe. The Wages Boards set
up in Victoria in 1896 have been adopted by
the mother country. Germany has led the
way with labour exchanges, labour colonies,
provision against sickness and accident, old
age and invalidity. Great Britain is about to
embark on a pioneer scheme of State-aided
insurance against unemployment. Charles
Booth and Seebohm Rowntree have described
the life and labour of the people, and the
numberless University Settlements, springing
from the seed sown by Arnold Toynbee,
testify to a more generous recognition of
social responsibility.

In an age of science and democracy the
power of tradition is everywhere weakening.
The significant endeavour of Modernism to
restate the Catholic position has aroused
world-wide sympathy and interest ; but Pius
X, departing from the cautious tolerance
of his predecessor, has offered it uncom-
promising opposition. Loisy and Tyrrell
felt the heavy hand of the Pope, and even
Fogazzaro, the last representative of the
liberal Catholicism of Rosmini, was frowned on
by the Vatican. The Syllabus " Lamentabili "
and the Encyclical " Pascendi " have slain

240 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

Modernism as a school of Catholic thought.
The watchword of Pius X is concentration.
He prefers an obedient flock to a larger nun?iber
of nominal adherents. Thus he imposes on
teachers an oath against Modernism, denounces
the Reformation in the Borromeo Encyclical,
and penalises mixed marriages by the Ne
temere decree. The attempts of Catholics to
prove the compatibility of their faith with
democratic principles has been rebuked. The
promising Sillonist movement of Marc
Sangnier has been suppressed in France, and
the excommunication of Romolo Murri has
destroyed Christian Democracy in Italy. Yet
this rigid conservatism attracts the type of
mind which yearns for authority, and there
has been a steady flow of converts from the
Protestant Churches and from the ranks of
disillusioned sceptics. While the older
Churches have lost much of their ground, the
tendency of recent thought is rather con-
structive than destructive. The teachings of
Mrs. Eddy have spread rapidly throughout
the United States and found a fainter welcome
in the Old World. The emphasis laid by
Christian Science on the power of the will
reappears in the newer psychology of James
and Bergson. Philosophy has passed out of
her positivist mood, and Science has grown
more willing to accept idealist interpretations
of the universe.

WORLD PROBLEMS 241

Though the theological temperature is
falling, the age-long conflict between Christian
and Jew has been renewed with increased
bitterness. But the Anti-Semitism of the
last two decades of the nineteenth century-
was rather the offspring of economic than
of racial or religious causes. The crusade
began in Prussia in 1878 with the denuncia-
tions of Stocker, a Court chaplain, who
traced the growing materialism of German
society to Jewish financiers and journalists.
He was vigorously supported by the historian
Treitschke, and despite the opposition of
Mommsen, Virchow, and other leaders of
thought, the virus spread over Germany.
When dismissed by William II he appeared
in the Reichstag as the leader of a party of
Anti-Semites. By this time Austria had
outstripped her ally. The party of Christian
Socialism, supported by the Catholic clergy,
obtained the enthusiastic support of the
small traders of the towns, while its leader,
Lueger, the burgomaster of Vienna, held the
capital in the hollow of his hand till his
death in 1910. In France the poisoned pen
of Drumont prepared the way for the out-
burst of Anti-Semitism to which Dreyfus
owed his sufferings. But it was in Eastern
Europe, the abode of two-thirds of the ten
million Jews scattered over the world, that
the storm raged most fiercely. In Russia

242 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

violent mob attacks began in 1881 and were
renewed in 1891. A decade later a third
cycle of persecution opened with the hideous
massacre at Kishineff, the capital of Bess^
arabia. Scarcely less terrible have been the
sufferings of Jews in Roumania. Among the
conditions on which the new State was
recognised in 1878 was the removal of religious
disabilities ; but the Government made no
attempt to fulfil its pledges. Restrictions were
multiplied to such an extent that life became
almost intolerable. A great exodus began
in 1900. Many fled to America, and in 1902
Secretary Hay invited the signatories of the
Treaty of Berlin to common action. As
Great Britain alone responded, collective
pressure was impossible, and the only result
of the American protest was that the
Roumanian Government prohibited emigra-
tion.

The answer to Anti-Semitism was Zionism.
In 1896 Herzl, a Vienna journalist, outlined
a plan of an autonomous republic under the
Sultan. The scheme was warmly embraced
by Max Nordau, Zangwill, and other influential
leaders, and the first Zionist Congress was
held at Basel in 1897 ; but the difficulties of
the project soon became apparent. Abdul
Hamid was sympathetic, but failed to make
a satisfactory oder. Russia was hostile and
Germany unfriendly. The prosperous Jews

WORLD PROBLEMS 243

of Western Europe had no wish to exchange
the comforts of civilisation for the barren
soil of Palestine. Despite these discourage-
ments Zionists refused to abandon hope, and
an offer by the British Government of an
alternative refuge in East Africa in 1903 was
refused after heated discussions. But the
death of Herzl in 1904 dealt a mortal blow
at the movement, and the recent project of
a settlement in Mesopotamia has attracted
little enthusiasm.

The filling up of the world has brought
the white and the coloured races once more
into close contact. Though slavery and
the slave-trade had been abolished by
civilised States before the scramble for
Africa began in 1884, old evils have re-
appeared under new names. Since the
effective exploitation of tropical and sub-
tropical territories is beyond the capacity
of white men, indentured labour has been
invented, and the " White Man's Burden "
is too often the dark man's doom. The
murders and mutilations of the Congo Free
State, the holocausts of Angola servicaes,
the cruelties of the Chartered Company in
Matabeleland and of Dr. Peters in German
East Africa, the wholesale destruction of
human life on the hemp plantations of
Yucatan, the massacre of Blagovestchenk,
the march of the European armies to Pekin,

244 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

are part of the price that humanity has had
to pay for the new ImperiaHsm. Of another
character are the indignities long inflicted on
educated Indians in the Transvaal under
Dutch and British rule, the perpetuation of a
colour bar in the new constitution of South
Africa, and the undiminished insolence of the
American towards the negro.

Yet some progress in the solution of the
greatest and most difficult of world problems
has been made. The sense of responsibility
is growing. Such bodies as the African
Society, founded in memory of Mary
Kingsley, and the South African Native
Races Committee reveal a new and sym-
pathetic attitude towards native ques-
tions. The noble work of missionaries
is bearing fruit. The British Anti-Slavery
and Aborigines Protection Society continues
its beneficent activity. Thanks to the
crusade of the saintly Lavigerie and the
Brussels Conference of 1890 to which it led,
the African slave-trade is more closely
watched, and the sale of black ivory is being
gradually limited. Steps are being taken to
save natives from the ravages of alcohol.
An International Conference met at Shanghai
in 1909 to concert measures against the use
of opium. No one now doubts that not
only the yellow but the brown and the
black races are capable of progress. While

WORLD PROBLEMS 245

Hayti and Liberia show how httle advance
they can make without help, Jamaica,
Basutoland, and the Malay States reveal a
marked capacity for development under
sympathetic guidance. The American negro
learns at Tuskegee to become a useful member
of a civilised State, and Booker Washington
and Professor Dubois are among the intellec-
tual assets of their country. Pure blooded
members of the dark races, such as Rizal,
the Filipino scholar, novelist, and patriot,
and Tengo Jebavu, the South African
journalist, show the possibilities of advance.
The desire to preserve racial piu'ity is
common to the higher nations. Yet the
wisdom of friendly co-operation between
the higher and the lower races becomes
ever more apparent. If the white man
boasts of his superior intelligence, the
coloiu'cd man possesses a scarcely less for-
midable instrument in his overwhelming
numbers.

Though the civilised world has become
increasingly conscious of its unity, vast
armaments are still regarded as the only
guarantee of national security. The acquisi-
tion of oversea dominions has tempted the
Powers to supplement their rivalry on land
by rivalry at sea. The number of men under
arms in Europe has risen to 5 millions, while
the war budget exceeds 300 millions. Japan

246 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

and the United States have joined in the race,
and the South American Republics have
squandered millions on battleships of the
largest size. Schemes for a reduction of
armaments flitted through the restless brain
of Louis Napoleon, and occupied the attention
of Salisbury and other statesmen. As debt
and taxation increased without any corre-
sponding advance in relative strength, the cry
for relief grew more insistent, and it was
with a shock of joyful surprise that the world
learned in 1898 that the most autocratic
monarch in Europe had invited the Powers
to discuss the feasibility of a halt. In im-
pressive language the Rescript lamented the
growing burden on the peoples and the diver-
sion of national effort from productive pursuits.
Cynics dismissed the proposal as an adroit
move on the part of a State whose finances
were in disorder ; but there is no reason to
suspect the sincerity of the Tsar. When the
delegates met at the Hague in 1899 it became
clear that there was no chance of realising
the purpose for which the Conference had
met. The spokesman of Germany declared
in emphatic words that his country found
her armaments no crushing burden, and that
she could entertain no proposal for their
limitation.

When the ideal was thus rudely shattered, the
Conference fell back on arbitration. There had

WORLD PROBLEMS 247

been over one hundred arbitrations between
States during the nineteenth century. The
Alabama award did httle to assist the cause of
arbitration, owing to the excessive damages
that Great Britain was called on to pay.
Twenty years later the Behring Sea dispute
was settled by arbitrators, two nominated by
Great Britain and the tJnited States, and
three by the rulers of countries not concerned
in the dispute. Other differences have been
terminated by an independent arbitrator.
But it was obvious that a permanent Court
would be found highly convenient, and it is
the glory of the First Hague Conference, at
the suggestion of Lord Pauncefote, to have
created it. Of the controversies referred to
the Hague Tribunal by far the most important
related to the Newfoundland Fisheries. Still
more recently, the questions involved in the
escape and capture of Savarkar at Marseilles
were referred to the Court, and settled in
favour of the British claim. In addition to
the growing willingness of States to refer
their disputes to arbitration, the practice of
concluding general treaties is becoming
common. Many contracts have been signed
during the last generation pledging the
signatories to submit all questions except
those touching vital interests or national
honour. The next step, which was first
taken by Chile and Argentina, was to under-

248 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

take to refer all disputes without exception.
The courageous proposal of President Taft
in 1910 to conclude an unconditional treaty
with " some Great Power " and the warm
welcome extended to it by Sir Edward Grey
in March 1911, bring within sight a new
hope for the world.

The Inter-Parliamentary Union, founded in
1888, meets every year. The Declaration of
London will supply the International Prize
Court, established at the Second Hague Con-
ference, with a recognised code. The exemp-
tion of private property from capture at sea
must be secured. But the best hope of
peace lies in the gradual triumph of reason
over the suspicions, ignorance, and greed from
which wars arise. The vested interests which
thrive on armaments, the Yellow Press which
lives by sensation, the nervous patriot who
dreams of invasion, the soldier who glorifies
the bracing influence of war, are formidable
but not insuperable obstacles to the reign
of law. It is the merit of Randal Cremer
and Hodgson Pratt, of Baroness Siittner and
Frederic Passy, of Edwin Mead and Andrew
Carnegie, to have realised that peace needs
its propaganda like any other good cause.
It is the achievement of Bloch and Norman
Angell to have shown that even a successful
conflict between modern States can bring no
material gain. We can now look forward

WORLD PROBLEMS 249

with something like confidence to the time
when war between civilised nations will be
considered as antiquated as the duel, and
when the peacemakers shall be called the
children of God.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

GENERAL. — The Cambridge Modern History, vol. xii. ;
Rose, The Development of the European Nations, 1870-1900 ;
Hazen, Europe Since 1815; The Annual Register; The
Statesman's Y ear-Book.

CHAPTER I. —Narratives. —Bright, History of
England, 1880-1901 ; McCarthy, History of Our Own Times,
1880-1901 (4 vols.); Herbert Paul, History of Modern
Englatid, vol. v., 1885-1895. Biographies. — Morley,
Gladstone ; Winston Churchill, Randolph Churchill ;
Elliot, Qoschen, Ireland. — Barry O'Brien, Life of
ParneU ; W. O'Brien, Aii Olive Branch in Ireland ; Paul-
Dubois, Contemporary Ireland. The Empire. — Hawke,
The British Empire ; Lucas, Historical Geography of the
British Colonies ; Jebb, Studies in Colonial Nationalism,
and The Colonial Conference ; Hobson, Imperialism.

CHAPTER XL— Bodley, France, and The Church in
France ; Coubertin, The Evolution of the Third Republic ;
Lawton, The Third French Republic ; Bracq, France under
the Republic ; Conybeare, The Dreyfus Case.

CHAPTER III.— Italy.— King and Okey, Italy To-day,
ed. of 1909; Stillman, The Union of Italy, 1815-1895,
and Life of Crispi; Lowell, Governments and Parties in
Continental Europe. Spain and Portugal. — Whyte, A
Century of Spain and Portugal', Martin Hume, Modern
Spain ; Morse Stephens, Portugal (with additional chapter
by M. Hume). Archer, The Life of Ferrer, and Shaw,
Spain from Within, discuss the influence of the Church.
251

252 HISTORY OF OUR TIME

Wilson, The Downfall of Spain, describes the American
War.

CHAPTER rv.— Germany.— Dawson, The Evolution
of Modern Germany. Lowell, Governments and Parties,
and B. Howard, The German Empire, describe the Con-
stitution at work. Headlam, Bismarck, and Lowe,
William II, are useful for the earher years. The German
Emperor's Speeches. Austria-Hungary. — Drage,
Austria-Hungary ; Lowell, Governments and Parties ;
Seton Watson, Racial Problems in Hungary. Hungary
To-Day, ed. Alden, gives the official Magyar version.

CHAPTER v.— Russia.— Lowe, Alexander III; Pares,
Russia and Reform ; Wallace, Russia, ed. of 1905 ; Milyou-
kov, Russia and its Crisis ; Nevinson, The Davm in Russia ;
Kropotkin, The Terror in Russia ; Renwick, Finland
To-day. The Near East.— Sir C. Eliot, Turkey in
Europe ; The Balkan Question, ed. Villari, and Brailsford,
Macedonia, describe the rule of Abdul Hamid. Buxton,
Turkey in Revolution, and Abbott, Turkey in Transition,
discuss the Young Turk regime. For Armenia, Bryce,
Trans-Caucasia and Ararat, ed. 1896. Miller, The Balkans,
and Greek Life in Toivn and Country ; Beaman, Stamhuloff.

CHAPTER VI.— Bismarck's Reflections; Rose, The
Development of the European Nations ; Dilke, The Present
Position of European Politics (1887) ; Benedetti, Essays
in Diplomacy. For fuller study, Tardieu, La France et
ses Alliances; and Lemonon, L'Europe et la Politique
Britannique.

CHAPTER VII.— General.— Townshend, Asia and
Europe ; Lyall, Asiatic Studies. The Far East.— Uyehara,
The Political Development of Japan ; Fifty Years of New
Japan, ed. Okuma ; Lafcadio Hearn, Japan, an Attempt
at Interpretation; Bland and Backhouse, Chinxi under
the Empress Dowager ; W. Cecil, Changing China. India. —
The Indian Empire, 4 vols. (Imperial Gazetteer of India) ;
Lord Curzon in India. Morley, Indian Speeches ; Cotton,
Jew India ; Nevinson, The New Spirit in India, and
' irol, Indian Unrest, describe the new nationalism.

BIBLIOGRAPHY 253

Younghusband, India and Tibet, and Hamilton, Afghani-
stun, discuss frontier problems. Peesia. — Browne, The
Persian Revolution ; Chirol, The Middle Eastern Question.

CHAPTER VIII.— Genebal.— Johnston, The Opening-
up of Africa. Egypt. — Lord Cromer, Modern Egypt ;
Colvin, The Making of Modern Egypt ; Rothstein, Egypt's
Ruin (anti-occupation). Centkal Africa. — Mockler-
Ferryman, British Nigeria ; Stanley, Autobiography ;
Morel, Red Rubber ; Hamilton, 8omaliland ; Eliot, The
East African Protectorate; Johnston, Uganda. South
Ateica. — Theal, Story of South Africa; Michell, Life of
Rhodes ; Hobson, The War in South Africa ; Cook, The
Rights and Wrongs of the Transvaal War ; The Times History
of the War in South Africa ; De Wet, Three Years' War ;
Brand, The Union of South Africa.

CHAPTER IX.— The United States.— T/ie Cambridge
Modern History, vol. vii. ; Bryce, The American Common-
wealth, ed. 1911 ; Coolidge, The United States as a World
Power ; Taussig, Tariff History of the United States, ed. 1910 ;
Whipple, Cleveland. Canada. — Bourinot, Canada, 1760-
1900 ; Argyll, Yesterday and To-day in Canada. Latin
America.— Akers, History of South America, 1854-1904 ;
Fisher Unwin's South American Series, Mexico, Brazil^
Argentina, Peru, Chile, Uruguay ; Turner, Barbarous
Mexico (anti-Diaz) ; Portez, The Ten Republics.

CHAPTER X. — Reeves, State Experiments in Australia
and New Zealand ; Sombart, Socialism and the Social
Movement ; Lilley, Modernism ; Abbott, Israel in Europe ;
Inter-Racial Problems, ed. Spiller ; Booker Washington,
Up from Slavery ; Howard Evans, Sir Randal Cremer ;
Hall, The Two Hague Conferences,

INDEX

Abyssinia, 60-2
Afghanistan, 149, 166, 168
Africa, South, 20-2, 196-205
Anti-Semitism, 42-4. 241-2
Arbitration, 149,213-15,229,

246-8
Armaments, 245-6.
Armenia, 92, 124-5
Australia, 19, 233, 238

Bagdad railway. 93, 145,

154
Bonapartism, 56-7
Bosnia and Herzegovina, 107-

8, 151
British East Africa, 195-6
Bulgaria, 121-3, 127, 151
Burma, 166-7

Catholicism, 32, 41-2, 47-52,
65, 67, 73-4, 101-135,
239-40

China, 157-65, 173

Chinese Labour, 203-4, 207

Congo, the, 187-92

Crete, 125-7, 130

Cuba, 68-70, 216-9

Drago Doctrine, 230
Dual Alliance, 137-9

Egypt, 140-1, 181-6

Finland, 118-9

Greece, 125-7, 130-1

Hague Conferences and Tri-
bunal, 149, 246-7
Hawaii, 212

Ireland, 7-16, 23-4, 26, 30

Japan, 150, 155-65, 221-2

Korea, 157, 161-4

Macedonia, 121, 127-30
Madagascar, 140, 145, 188
Modernism, 239-40
Monroe Doctrine, 212-4.

230-1
Montenearro, 131, 151
Morocco,*^ 71-3, 144-9, 154,

186

Native races, 243-5
New Zealand, 233, 238
Nigeria, 194-5

Opium, 165, 244

256

HISTORY OF OUR TIME

Panama Canal, 39-40, 221
Persia, 149-50, 176-9
Philippines, 70, 217-9
Poland, 9G-8, 119-20
Proportional Representation,

233
Prussia, 95-8

Referendum, the, 233
Roumania, 131

Servia, 121-4, 157-2
Siam, 140
Siberia, 110, 158
Socialism, 28, 62-6, 90-1,
117,235-8

Somaliland, 196
Syndicalism, 54, 237

Tibet, 149, 173
Triple Alliance, 134-5
Triple Entente, 144-50
Tripoli, 143

Turkey, 92-3, 121, 124-30,
151-3

Uganda, 195-6

Women's franchise, 233-6

Zionism, 242-3

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